JEANNE D'ARC 



'Jh^yi^o 



JEANNE D'ARC 



BY 
PERCY MACKAYE 

AUTHOR OF "THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS," 
"FENRIS, THE WOLF," ETC. 



" Travaillezy trdvaillez, et Dieu travailieriiy 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 
1906 

AU rights reserved 



OCT 2 1906 



^mbw 






Copyright, 1906, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1906. 



J. S. Cashing & Co. —Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



Ml 



AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS 

IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE 

OF RARE INCENTIVES 

TO THIS WORK 



CHARACTERS 

At Domremy 

♦JACQUES D'ARC, father of Jeanne. 

*PIERRE D'ARC, brother of Jeanne^ courting Mengette. 

SEIGNEUR PIERRE DE BOURLEMENT, proprietor of 
" The Ladies' Tree^ 

COLIN, cozir ting Jeanne. 

GERARD, home from the English war s, betrothed to Hauviette. 

GERARDIN, a Burgimdian villager,, courting Isabellette. 
*PERRIN, bell-ringer of DomreiJty. 

*JEANNE D'ARC (" Jeannette"), the Maid. 
HAUVIETTE, her girl friend. 
ISABELLETTE, a peasant girl. 
MENGETTE, a peasant girl. 

*ST. MICHAEL. 

*ST. MARGARET AND ST. CATHERINE. 
THE " LADIES OF LORRAINE," i.e. the Fairies of the 
Tree. 

In France 

♦CHARLES VII, King of France. 
*JEAN, DUC D'ALENCON, his cousin. 
♦SEIGNEUR DE LA TREMOUILLE, his favorite. 
♦REGNAULT DE CHARTRES, Archbishop of Rheims. 
RENE DE BOULIGNY, Receiver-General of France. 

vii 



viii CHARACTERS 

VENDOME, the King's Chamberlain. 
*DUNOIS, French Commander at Orleans. 
♦MARSHAL LA HIRE. 

*JEAN DE METZ, of Jeanne'' s escort to the King. 
*BERTRAND DE POULANGY, of the same. 
*PASQUEREL, St. Augustine Friar ^ Jeanne'' s Confessor. 

PIGACHON, Franciscan Friar. 

MASTER SEGUIN, Dominican of Poitiers. 

BROTHER RICHARD, a Mendicant Friar. 
*LOUIS DE CONTES, Jeanne's Page, a boy. 
*PIERRE CAUCHON, Bishop of Beauvais. 
*NICOLAS LOISELEUR, of the Inquisition, 

FLAW, Governor of Compiegne. 

A TAILOR. 

A BOOTMAKER. 
*JOHN GRIS, an English gentleman. 

ADAM GOOD SPEED, an English yeoman. 

AN ENGLISH HERALD. 

♦CATHERINE DE LA ROCHELLE, >> Z^^zVj of King 
DIANE, I Charles's Court at 

ATHENIE, J Chinon. 

At Rouen (Only) 

BROTHER MARTIN LADVENU, a Monk. 
CAPTAIN OF THE ENGLISH GUARD. 
THREE ENGLISH GUARDS. 
THE VOICE OF THE JUDGE'S CLERK. 

Servants, Populace, Priests, Friars, Courtiers, 
Peasants, Soldiers. 

Note. — Characters marked with a star take part in more than one act. 



SCENES 

ACT I 
" The Ladies' Tree,'' near Domremy ; Springtime^ 1428. 

ACT II 

The Castle of King Charles VII^ at Chinon ; March 8, i^^g. 

ACT III 

\A meadow outside the Walls of Orleans; the attack on the 
Tournelles ; May 7, i^zg. 

ACT IV 

Scene I. feanne^s ca7np before the Walls of Troyes, en route 
for Rheims ; night offuly j, i42g. 

Scene II. A street in Rheims, seen frofn an old wall of the 
city ; Coronation Pageant of Kiftg Charles; Sun- 
day, fuly 17, i42g. 

ACT V 
Jeanne^ s prison at Rouen ; May jo, 1431. ♦ 



IX 



ACT I 

Scene : " The Ladies' Tree " near Domremy. 

Springtime of 1428 ; a holiday gathering of young folk from 
the hamlet. 

The trunk of the great beech tree, rising toward the hack of 
the scene, left centre, spreads its branches (left) to a 
group of white birches, in the half coficealment of which 
stands a stone bench. From beneath the branches of the 
beech (on the right), one looks away to the outskirts 
of a little French thatched village, more guessed than 
seen, in the not-far distance. Almost touching the tree- 
bole (on the left) stands a shrine, with a painted image 
of the Virgin. 

Near this, leaning against the tree, sits a young man (Gerard), 
dressed — in part — as a soldier, one arm and his 
breast being bandaged. He watches the boys and girls 
dancing a country round, in which the latter carry gar- 
lands. On the edge of the dance (left) sits a placid 
group of old women knitting. 

The Boys and Girls, taking respective parts in voice and 
pantomime, sing as they dance. 



B 



2 JEANNE D'ARC 

In green Lorraine, by our Lady's well, 

(Rose in flower.) 
I picked a rose for a damosel; 

(Weave your garlands !) 
I bended low my knee, 

Comme gi ! 
She maked courtesy, 

Comme qa ! 
Vivo la roso et V amour ! 

In green Lorraine, by our Lady's spring, 

(Rose in the hour.) 
I dropt within the rose a ring, 

(Fetch your garlands !) 
And gave it her sweetly ; 
Com,me gi ! 
She looked long on me, 
Comme ga ! 
Vivo la roso et V amour ! 

In green Lorraine, by our Lady's shrine, 

(Rose in bower.) 
Ring and rose she named mine ; 

(Hang your garlands!) 

I threw her kisses three, 

Comme gi ! 

She tossed them back to me, 

Comme ga ! 

Vivo la roso et V amour ! 

\_With a finale of tossed kisses and d?'opt curtsies, the lasses 
give their garlands to the lads, who hang them on the 



JEANNE D'ARC 3 

trunk of the beech tree, after which all scatter , laughing 
and talking, into groups — cracking nuts, love-making, 
playing games. In one group (right), playing knuckle- 
done on the grass, is Jeanne d'Arc, inconspicuous 
amongst the others. '] 

ISABELLETTE 
[To Gerardin.'] 

Mine hangs too high ; they'll have to stand tip-toe 
To reach it. 

GERARDIN 
Who ? 

ISABELLETTE 
The Ladies of Lorraine. 

GERARDIN 

But who — 

ISABELLETTE 

Hush, Gerardin ; some call them ladies, 
Some, fairies ; but my granny says that they 
Long time ago were queens in old Provence 
Who fell in love with their own troubadours, 
And so were banished by their jealous kings 
Far northward to Lorraine ; and here, because 
They sorrowed with so piteous melody, 
Singing the dear songs of their lovers dead, 
They won the fairy's hospitality. 

GERARDIN 

And so these garlands are for them ? 



4 JEANNE D'ARC 

ISABELLETTE 

Of course ! 

HAUVIETTE 

\Dancing before Gerard and hugging him."] 
Lon Ion, la la, deri dera ! 

GERARD 

[ With a twinge, smiling up at her.'\ 
My arm ! 

HAUVIETTE 

My poor Gerard ! — did she forget his wounds ? 
Ah, naughty gar^on, what's he good for now ? 
Look, Perrin, how they've hacked my fine sweet boy — 
The English fiends ! 

GERARD 

Burgundians, they were. 

HAUVIETTE 
\^To Perrin.'] 

'Tis six o' one ! They've chopped him up so fine 
I'm going to serve him on a silver dish 
With lettuce hearts and little parsley leaves — 
Ragout Gerardy avec les petite s tetes Ajtglaises. 

\_She laughs merrily.'] 

PERRIN 
\^Asider] 
Don't, don't, Hauviette ; you know he may not live. 



JEANNE D'ARC 

HAUVIETTE 
\^l7iipetuously^ 
Gerard, sweetheart ! I love thee ! 

\She weeps.~\ 



GERARD 
\_Caressing her.~\ 

Little swallow ! 

MENGETTE 
\_To IsabelletteT)^ 
Jeannette is on her knees. 

ISABELLETTE 

Telling her beads ? 

MENGETTE 

No, playing knucklebone there with the boys. 

ISABELLETTE 

She's brought her knitting with her ; think of it ! 

MENGETTE 

Colin will get a good wife. 

ISABELLETTE 
\TMrning up her nose."] 

Colin.? — Pfui! 

PIERRE D'ARC 
\_Uncovering his face by the free, shouts.'] 
Time ! 
\_IIimts for others who are playing hide-and-seek with him.] 



6 JEANNE D'ARC 

TWO GIRLS 
\Dancing togeiher.'\ 
Asusee ! Asusee ! 

GERARD 

Hauviette — 

HAUVIETTE 
[ opening her lunch basket^ 
My fine boy must not talk ; 'tis bad for him. 

GERARD 
I think — 

HAUVIETTE 
\Thrusting it into his mouthy 
A raisin ! 

GERARD 
But — 

HAUVIETTE 

An almond ! 

GERARD 

You — 



Crack it ! 

I — 



HAUVIETTE 

GERARD 
HAUVIETTE 

Bite ! — a cookie. 



JEANNE D'ARC 7 

GERARD 
\^Incoherently7\ 

Wish — 

HAUVIETTE 

A kiss, then ! 
\Kisse5 him on the mouth.'] 

PERRIN 
[ Cracking nuts with a stone.] 
Heigh, Gerardin ! See here — this walnut. 



GERARDIN 
[Flirting with IsabelletteJ] 



Hein ? 



PERRIN 

This here's the Duke of Burgundy — his skull, 

\^Smashes the nut loudly. The others laugh and jeer good- 
naturedly at Gerardin, whose proffered arm Isabellette 
taking, sticks out her tongue at them.~\ 

GERARD 
\_Laughing back at Perrin.] 

Seigneur the Duke hath brains. 

COLIN 
\Thrusting a walnut between his jaws ^ 

I crack 'em — so ! 

GERARD 
\_Half rising toward Gerardin.] 
Is he there — ? 



Now, now, 



8 JEANNE D'ARC 

HAUVIETTE 
\_Standing between them.'^ 
Hush! 

GERARD 

Burgundian ? 

HAUVIETTE 
\_Caressing him.~\ 

If you're not quiet — 

GERARD 
\_Sinking back.~\ 
Curse him ! 

PIERRE D'ARC 

[ Creeping stealthily behind Mengette, claps his hand over her 

eyes.~\ 

Name me ! 

MENGETTE 

Pierre ! 

\Springing loose.~\ 

Be still ! Here comes the Sieur de Bourlement. 
\_Gener at commotion ; all who are seated — save Gerard — 

get to their fee t.~\ 

GERARDIN 
\Shrugs defiantly and makes a face off rightJ] 

Who? 
ISABELLETTE 

[Horror-struck to Gerardin.~\ 

My dear, he owns the Ladies' Tree, and half 
The land of Domremy. 



JEANNE D'ARC 9 

THE OLD WOMEN 
[ Under their breaths^ 

Seigneur de Bourlement ! 

\_Enterj rights de Bourlement. He strolls in dreamily ; in 
one hand a book ; in the other ^ a walking-sticky which he 
twirls^ 

DE BOURLEMENT 
\_Abstractedly^ 
Good-morrow, dears, good-morrow. 

ALL 
\_Scatteredly, with bobs and curtsies. ] 

Save Seigneur ! 

DE BOURLEMENT 
\_After a pause ^ during which he reads ^ 
Now, now, my pretties, do not stand and stare. 
And why are not you dancing .'* When I saw 
You lassies twinkling on the grass, methought 
The little marguerites had learned to run. 

[Twirling his cane he drops it. Jeanne springs forward 

and lifts it.^ 

JEANNE 
Seigneur — your walking-stick. 

DE BOURLEMENT 

My wand, Jeannette ! 
This is the month of May and I am Merlin. 

[ Waving his stick.~\ 
Ask what you will, my lads : 'tis granted you. 



lO JEANNE D'ARC 

COLIN 
\_Awkward and loudJ] 
I want Jeannette. 

\_The others giggle. ~\ 

DE BOURLEMENT 

I grant thee, swain — to want her. 
\_The others laugh tentatively.'] 
Love, Springtime, laughter — c est la poesie ! 

COLIN 

Nay — 

DE BOURLEMENT 
\_Sniffing the air.] 

Smell, boy ! Smell this day ! and mark what myth 
Still lurks i' the nostril : 'tis a charmed grotto 
Where sleeps a nymph, to whom a thousand flowers 
Make odorous minstrelsy ; and for her love 
The tender lyric of the fleur-de-lys. 
The blue-bell's clear chanson^ the daisy's ballad. 
Yea, and the languorous rondel of the rose — 
Are all respired. — \B owing P] Encore la poesie ! 

COLIN 

I want to wed her. 

DE BOURLEMENT 

Shepherd, hast thou never 
Taken a little walk toward sunset time 
Along the fields .'* One pauses now and then 
To squint the lids, and watch against the west 
The cowslip-colour'd light steam from the flocks 



JEANNE D'ARC II 

To float in haloes 'gainst the quiet clouds ; 

One sniffs the spearmint by the river's brink, 

And waits for dusk-fall, and the twittering 

Of swallows overhead, and underneath 

The nibbling sound of half-distinguished sheep. 

The neatherd's whistle and the colley's bark. 

The vesper bell, and with that — voices of angels. 

JEANNE 
\Having listened rapt.~\ 
Amen ! 

GERARD 
[ Who has heard de Bourlement with impatient scorn^ tries 

to rise.'\ 

And what of France, Seigneur ? 
\Hauviette, frightened, claps her hand over his mouth.^ 

DE BOURLEMENT 
[After scrutiny of mild surprise.'] 

In France 
The dew that fills the lily's cup is song. 

GERARD 

Song cannot make us men in France, Seigneur, 
Nor drive the EngUsh bloodhounds from our homes. 

HAUVIETTE 

Pardon ! Oh, sir, he's very ill. 

DE BOURLEMENT 

Poor boy ! 
I wish him better. Come, my dears. To-day 
Is Sunday of the Wells. Let see which one 
Shall win the foot-race to the holy well. _, 



12 JEANNE UARC 

THE YOUNG FOLK 

The race ! Outre ! 

\They crowd about de Bourlemefit.'\ 

PERRIN 

\_Seizing PierreJ] 

Come to the starting line. 
[Preceded by de Bourlement with his cane, and followed in 
the rear by the old knitting-women , exeunt behind the 
birches all but Gerard and Hauviette.'] 

GERARD 
\_Gloomily, as Hauviette bends over him^ 
Fly with them, bonny swallow ; don't wait here 
Beating your slender wings about my eyes. 
You cannot blind me, dear ; I see it well 
That I am through with life. 

HAUVIETTE 

Tu-whit ! to-whoo ! 
His bonny swallow will peck out those eyes, 
If they stare so. 

GERARD 

Nay, leave ! 

HAUVIETTE 

I will not hop 
One inch from him. 

VOICES 
\Shout outside^ 
Outre! 



JEANNE D'ARC 1 3 

HAUVIETTE 

\J limping up,] 

Ah, hear them now ! 
'Tis the beginning. 

GERARD 
\_Sinking back.'] 
And the ending. 

HAUVIETTE 
\Running to the edge of the scene ^ 

Oh! 
Pierre d'Arc has stuck a rose in Mengette's hair. 
She pulled it out, but he has put it back. 
Now they've all toed the line ; there's five of 'em : 
Perrin, Mengette, Pierre d'Arc, Jeannette, and Colin. 
Jeannette's between her brother and her sweetheart. 

A VOICE 
\_CaUs outside^ with singing intonation^ 
Make ready ! 

HAUVIETTE 
[Coming back to Gerard^ 
That's the Sieur de Bourlement. — Listen ! 

THE VOICE 
Prepare ! — Depart ! 

HAUVIETTE 
\^Rushi7ig hack to the edge of scene.] 

Now ! Now they're off ! 



14 JEANNE D'ARC 

\_Haiiviette holds herself tensely with clenched hands. From 
outside there co7ne shouts of " Per r in I Pierre I Jean- 
nette f"* etc.^ presently^ in the distance ^ sounding only 
one name^ ^'- Jean?iette.^^\ 

Run! Run! 

Perrin's ahead. — Ha ! — Now ! — \^Shouts'\ — Jean- 
nette ! Jeannette ! 

Jeannette is winding him. — Faster, Jeannette ! 

Ah, now they're hid behind the willows. — Peste ! 

I cannot see. 

GERARD 

Run after them. 

HAUVIETTE 
\Stamping?^ 

I won't ! 
Sacr6 Maria ! Hark I Jeannette — she's won I 
Thou wretched boy I Why ever did you fight 
Those English ogres .-* Now thou art a stump ; 
Can't race, can't dance, can't play. O saints ! to 

have 
A sweetheart half i' the grave ! — Darling Gerard, 
Forgive her ! Please forgive her ! 

GERARD 
[Caressing her, where she snuggles close to him.'\ 

There, there, there ! 
[ While Gerard and Hauviette are absorbed in each other 
thus, boughs of the shrubbery part noiselessly, and Jeanne 
breaks upon the scene, panting and flushed from running. 
Not seeing the lovers beneath the beech tree, she seats 
herself on the stone bench, braids her hair, which has flown 



JEANNE D'ARC 1 5 

loose in the race^ takes out her knittings but lets it fall 
beside her, fixing her eyes dreamily on the air. Gerard 
meantime has been playfully humming to Hauviette.'\ 

My sweetheart's a swallow ; 
Her sprite's 
On wing; 
Oh, might I follow 
Her flights, 
I'd bring 
Back from Heaven the heart of Spring. 
\Hauviette^ spyifig Jeanne, turns Gerard^ s head and points. 
Voices in the distance call ^^ feannette P^^ 

Jeannette ! — What is she doing ? 

HAUVIETTE 

Hiding from 'em ; 
Always she's stealing off alone. 

\_Speaking lower."] 

They say 
She talks with God. 

[Mischievously^ 

Let's ask her. 

GERARD 

Don't! 
HAUVIETTE 

[Bursting suddenly upon Jeanne.] 

Hallo ! 

JEANNE 
[Springs upj startled.] 
Ha ! bon gr6 Dieu ! 

[Coming to herself.] 

No one but thee, Hauviette .? 



l6 JEANNE D'ARC 

HAUVIETTE 

Me and Gerard. — What made you leave the race ? 

JEANNE 

\_Smiling7\ 
'Twas finished. 

HAUVIETTE 

But you won the prize. 

JEANNE 

\_Shruggi7tg.'\ 

Just that ! 

The Jack-o'-ninnies fetched a crown of laurel 

To set upon my head. \_Laughing.~\ Ha ! but St. John ! 

I cut away into the underwood 

And put 'em off my track. 

HAUVIETTE 
\_Seemg Isabellette appear through the dirches.'\ 

Look sharp, then. 

ISABELLETTE 
[Seeing Jeanne, shouts back.'] 



Found ! 



GERARDIN'S VOICE 
[From without^ 



Where is she? 

ISABELLETTE 

Here. 

[Enter Gerardin."] 
But hush! 
[ With wicked sanctimony.] 

We must not spoil 
Mamselle's devotions. 



JEANNE UARC 1 7 

GERARDIN 
\_Makiftg a mock bow to Jeatme.'] 

Pray, Mamselle, forgive 
My rude intrusion. 

JEANNE 
\_Returning a mock curtsy^ 

Nay, you're welcome, sir. 
God puts a sweet root in the little pig's path, 
So we're well met. 

GERARDIN 
\Baulked^ 
Hein ? Am I root or pig ? 
\^Enter Colin with a wreath of green leaves^ 

COLIN 
Here is thy crown, Jeannette. 

ISABELLETTE 

Pish ! not that one ! 
Run to the window of the kirk, and fetch 
Yon little halo made of painted glass — 
Sky-blue and gold ; she left it by mistake 
Last time she prayed there. 

HAUVIETTE 

Run, thou dunderhead ! 
How shall we get to Heaven without Jeannette } 

ISABELLETTE 

Yon keys, that dangle at her waist, unlock 
St. Peter's wicket. 



1 8 JEANNE D'ARC 

COLIN 
Na ; I will not go. 

HAUVIETTE 
[ To habellette^ 
I dare you steal 'em. 

[Makes a dash at Jeanne's keys."] 

JEANNE 
\Catching Hauviette^ s hand powerfully with her left, laughs. "] 

If you poke more fun 
I'll have your noses all ! One, two, three, four ! 

[Snatching at their faces with her right handy she criss- 
crosses the thumby child-fashion?^ 

Now you'll not hold 'em in the air so high. 

HAUVIETTE 
[Shaking Jeanne ?\ 
Wicked Jeannette ! She won't be teased. 



ISABELLETTE 
[To Jeanne ?\ 

What made you run away alone ? 

JEANNE 
[Diffidently 7[ 

ISABELLETTE 

Listen ! — for what 1 



But tell ! 



To listen. 



JEANNE D'ARC I9 

GERARDIN 

What did you hear ? 

JEANNE 
[ Very quietly^ 

Let's go. 
\^As she moves awayy the others exchange nods aiid shrugs.'\ 

COLIN 
Eh ! what said I — 'twas them ! They be her friends 
And keep her company. 

JEANNE 
[^Turns wonderingly^ 

Who are my friends } 

COLIN 
The lady wood-folk : I ha' seen 'em with 'ee 
Many's the chance at sundown. 

ISABELLETTE 

Seen them with her } 

HAUVIETTE 
What — speaking } 

COLIN 

Like as though. 

ISABELLETTE 

At sundown ? 



COLIN 
\Nodding^^ 



Darkish. 



20 JEANNE D'ARC 

HAUVIETTE 

Where ? 

COLDJ 

Here, beside their tree. 

JEANNE 

Thou art wrong, Colin. 
'Tis well to know that since the good priest read 
The gospel of St. John beneath these boughs, 
There are no fairies more in Domremy. 

ISABELLETTE 
O pf ui ! 

HAUVIETTE 

\To Jeanne ?\ 
You don't believe ? — But Colin saw ! 

JEANNE 

Saw moonshine ! — I believe my own good eyes 
And ears. / never saw nor heard them. 

COLIN 

Eh! 

Thy father saith how folk what's spoken to 
By fairies knoweth naught of it ; but getteth 
Gifties most wonderful. 

ISABELLETTE 

Aha ! That's why 
He wants to marry thee, Jeannette. 

COLIN 

\_Eagerly?[ 

Aye, that's ! 
[ Voices shout outside^ amidst laughter?^ 



JEANNE D'ARC 21 

GERARDIN 

Hark there ! Come on ! We're missing all the game. 

HAUVIETTE 
[ Clasping her hands?[ 
Ah me ! if only I could go ! 

ISABELLETTE 
\Pulli7ig Hauviette' s sleeve as she passes^ 

Come, too ! 
[Exitl 

[As Gerardin is hastening out, Gerard — with a great 
effort — lifti7ig his sword in its scabbard, flings it 
clattering in front of Gerardin, who starts back?[ 

GERARD 
{Bitterly?^ 
Burgundian ! 

GERARDIN 

You dropt this sword ? 

GERARD 

I flung it 
In challenge, sir. 

GERARDIN 

Bah ! I'm no corpse-killer. 
\_Exit?^ 

HAUVIETTE 
\^Exasperated.'\ 
Stupid Gerard ! 



22 JEANNE D'ARC 

JEANNE 
\_Bending over Gerard; to Hauviette.'] 

Fetch him some water ; go. 
I'll stay with him. 

[ Voices shout outside. '\ 

HAUVIETTE 
[ Calling gayly.~\ 
I'm coming ! 
[^Tossing Gerard a kiss."] 

Silly boy ! 

\_Pulling Colin after her, exit Hauviette. Jeanne^ lifting 
Gerard^ s sword reverently ^ places it by the tree.^ 

GERARD 
\_Amazed.2 
My sword — your lips have touched it ! 

JEANNE 

God himself 
Hath fought with it for France. 

GERARD 

/ fought with it ! 

JEANNE 

And God did clasp His fingers over thine 
Along the hilt. Whoso hath fought for France 
Hath fought for Him. 

GERARD 
Jeannette ! you knew, then, why 
I flung it there ! You knew } 



None other knew. 



Into the battle. 



JEANNE D'ARC 23 

JEANNE 

Full well, my friend. 

GERARD 
JEANNE 

None here besides hath been 

GERARD 

Never _;/^2/ have been. 

JEANNE 
Ah me, Gerard, so often have I gone 
Amongst the armed men, methinks I scarce 
Have stayed at home. 

GERARD 

You saw the fighting } When } 

JEANNE 

Between the shearing and the shearing. 

GERARD 

Where } 

JEANNE 
Out there — beyond : in the wide land beyond ! 
And there were thousands flashing in the sun 
Beneath dark walls and mighty battlements, 
And all their shining limbs were stiff with steel ; 
And rank by rank they rattled as they marched, 
But each half hid his neighbour with his shield 
Like soldiers in the chapel-window glass ; 



24 JEANNE UARC 

And I rode with them, clad in silver mail 
From heel to head, upon a snow-white horse, 
And all my oriflammes were painted fair 
With lilies and the Rising of our Lord ; 
For we were marching, midst the roar of bells, 
Towards a great cathedral. 

GERARD 

But you dreamed ! 

JEANNE 

[ Changing^ 

Once in the midnight, when I saw them sleeping 
After the battle, in the still moonshine 
Their linked armour lay beside them, sloughed 
Like adder skins ; and where the living slept. 
Their bright breaths rose like candle mist, but on 
The dead the dews fell. 

GERARD 

How saw you these sights } 

JEANNE 

Sometimes I see them very small and bright, 

As if they were inlaid in smooth enamel 

Like wish-stones in my godfather's thumb-ring. 

Sometimes I gaze at them as through clear water. 

That moves between us, blurring the deep colours 

With skeins of silver when the wind blows. Ah ! 

But tell me of the wars which you have seen. 

I have great pity for the land of France. 

Tell me — for you have fought — what of the wars ? 



JEANNE D'ARC 2$ 

VOICES 
[ Outside J amid laughter.'] 
Vivo la roso ! 

GERARD 
[ Glooming.~\ 

Will you not go — play ? 

JEANNE 
[ S7niling7\ 
Now think ye they are sighing for me ? 

\^Adjustiiig his cloak as a back rest.'] 

Move 
A little ; so is better ? 

GERARD 

It is better. 
You asked — what of the wars ? 

JEANNE 

Thou art still in pain. 

GERARD 

Not now ; my body's pain is strangely numb, — 
What of the wars ? Thou knowest the bitter news : 
The English are flooded up like the North Sea 
Over the fields of France, where all the land 
Southward to Orleans drowns with them, and all 
The men of France, like moles and field-mice, creep 
Under the bloodied furrows. 

JEANNE 

Orleans stands ! 

GERARD 

Yes ; stands like a strong headland ip. .their tide 
And will not crumble. Orleans only stands 



26 JEANNE D'ARC 

Between the English army and King Charles. 
Yet soon must also Orleans fall, and then — 
What hope then for the King ? 

JEANNE 

God fights for him. 

GERARD 

They say that he is poor and hath few friends, 
And daily those desert him, taunting him 
That he hath never been crowned. 

JEANNE 

He shall be crowned. 

GERARD 
And Burgundy the Duke, the one strong man 
Whose right arm should have struck for France, now 

fights 
For England and the taste of English gold. — 
O God ! Jeannette, if thou hadst fought for France, 
Now mightest thou feel what 'tis of bitterness 
To close my eyes and go down in the dark. 
Knowing that even this dust of me must change 
Into a little heap of English earth. 

JEANNE 

Gerard ! — and you must die } 

GERARD 

Last night, the doctor 
Went from my door to Jacques-the-gravedigger's ; 
To-day they fetched me here with garlands. 



JEANNE D'ARC 27 

[Rising slowly to her feet, Jeanne holds in her left hand 
Gerard s sword, and raising her right as one taking a 
martial oath, speaks with d7'eamy fervour.~\ 

JEANNE 

Listen ! 
Between Coussy and Vaucouleurs there lives 
A girl, that, ere the year is gone, shall save 
The land of France, and consecrate King Charles. 

GERARD 

A girl ! — between Coussy and Vaucouleurs ? 
That's here in Domremy. 

JEANNE 

Have you not heard 
How long ago 'twas spoken, " Out of Lorraine, 
Beside the Ladies' Tree, shall come a maid — 
Saviour of France " ? 

GERARD 

This is the Ladies' Tree ! 

JEANNE 

And truly was it spoken. — I am the Maid. 

GERARD 
Jeannette ! 

JEANNE 

It hath been told me. 



GERARD 



Who hath told } 



28 JEANNE D'ARC 

JEANNE 

The Lord hath sent His angel, even St. Michael, 
To me, Jeannette. 

GERARD 

Thou hast beheld him ? 



And heard him speak 



JEANNE 


Yes. 


GERARD 




JEANNE 




Often. 




GERARD 


When was this ? 


JEANNE 


First 



Four years ago. ' Twas in my father's garden ; 

I was then but thirteen ; I heard his voice. 

It was mid-day, in summer ; I was frightened. 

I had not fasted on the day before. 

A little to my right, towards the church, 

I heard it; on one side there shone a Ught. 

GERARD 
What ! — in the noon time ? 

JEANNE 

Yes ; a burning light. 
It dazzled me ; and then I saw his face. 

GERARD 

Alone } 



JEANNE D'ARC 29 

JEANNE 
It was surrounded all with angels, 
That glittered like the little poplar leaves 
Behind our barn. 

GERARD 

You saw them bodily ? 

JEANNE 

I saw them with these eyes as clearly as 

I see you there. Just then the mass bell rung, 

And then St. Michael spoke. 

GERARD 

Mind you what words } 

JEANNE 

He said : " Jeanne d'Arc, thy Lord hath chosen thee 
To save the land of France. When I am gone, 
St. Catherine will come and Margaret, 
His saints, to counsel thee." 

GERARD 

More did he say } 

JEANNE 

** Be good and wait," he said ; and then once more 
" Be a good girl, Jeannette," he said ; and so 
He and his angels went away, and I 
Wept, for I would have liked to go with them. 

GERARD 

St. Catherine and Margaret — they came } 

JEANNE 

Often they come. 



30 JEANNE D'ARC 

GERARD 

You have seen them also ? 

JEANNE 

Yes; 
But of tenest I hear them speak ; I call them 
" My Voices," and I hear them when the bells 
Are ringing — more at Matins and at Vespers 
Than other hours. At first they counselled me 
But to be good, and to prepare myself 
Against St. Michael's coming. But of late 
They have forewarned me I must go to raise 
The siege of Orleans and have crowned the Dauphin. 

GERARD 
\Arde7itly?\ 
For what, then, dost thou wait, Jeannette .•* 

JEANNE 

St. Michael, 
His coming. 

GERARD 

Ah ! and will he come again 
Before — I go .'^ 

JEANNE 

My Voices warn me oft 
That he at any moment may appear 
And bid me go unto Chinon, the Castle 
Of Charles the Dauphin, and make known to him 
My mission from our Lord. 

GERARD 

He will believe ! 
Jeannette, he will believe, as I ! — O France, 



JEANNE D' ARC 3 1 

Out of Lorraine hath come the Lord His maid 
To succour thee in thy death peril ! 

JACQUES D'ARC 

\His voice heard outside — /<?//.] 

. CoHu ! 
JEANNE 

My father ! Tell him not. I have not leave 
To tell yet what I know. You I have told, 
For you must soon go hence before my saints, 
And will explain my trespass. 

GERARD 

I will tell them 
How you revealed their secret to one dead 
And made him happy. 

JEANNE 
\\Vaichiiig her father approach outside. '\ 

He would grieve, besides, 
And rage, and would not let me leave him. 
\^Enter Jacques d^Arc and Colin.~\ 

Hush! 
JACQUES 

\_To Colin. '\ 
Round up the sheep with me. 

COLIN 

\_Follows slowly !\ 

Where keepst thy dog } 

JACQUES 

Suckleth her whelps at home. Hark yonder ! Yen's 



32 JEANNE D'ARC 

The bell-wether, hath jumped the pound. — Good e'en, 
Jeannette. Aye, knitting, hein ? 

JEANNE 

God give good e'en. 
JACQUES 
What for not making holiday ? 'Tis Sabbath ; 
Seigneur himself walks yon with the young folk; 
And Colin there clapt to 't with another sweetheart, — 
Ah, Colin ? 

COLIN 
[Jerking his thumb at Jeanne and Gerard.~\ 

She would browse with the lame sheep. 
JACQUES 
\_To Jeanne. ~\ 
What for with him f 

GERARD 

She asked me of the wars. 

JACQUES 

The wars ? Hark here, lass. Drop that gabble ; 

drop 't, 
I warn thee, down the nighest well and bury 't. 
No maid o' mine shall gossip o' the wars 
With any man. — And hast forgot my dream, 
Jeannette } 

JEANNE 

No. 

JACQUES 

Ofttime dreams be perilous. 
I saw thee in my dream fighting for France, 
And thou wert bleeding at the breast. May God 



JEANNE D'ARC 33 

Forgi'e 't me ! — Ere thou went to war, Jeannette, 
I'd have thy brothers drown thee. 

\Turns away, speaking to Colin.'] 

Where's thy staff ? 

COLIN 

Over against the sheep-pound. 

[^There run in Hauviette, Mengette, Pierre , Ferrin, and 

Others.] 
PERRIN 

Fetch Gerard ! 

JACQUES 

\To Colin.] 

Come ! — Wait for me, Jeannette ; we'll home with 'ee. 

\_Exeunt Jacques and Colin, right.] 

HAUVIEITE 

Gerard, Gerard, three kisses ! Then up, up ! 

GERARD 

Where is the swallow flying ! 

HAUVIETTE 

With the flock 
Of course. 

MENGETTE 
You're coming with us } 

PIERRE 

To be cured. 

HAUVIETTE 

We're going to the well of thorns ; Seigneur 
Is waiting for us. 'Tis a sacred well, 

D 



34 JEANNE D'ARC 

And filled with holy water to the brim ; 
And when you drink of it, you will be cured. 

PIERRE 

Make him a chair. 

SEVERAL OTHERS 

A chair ! 

\_Pierre and another lad by interlacing their hands form a seat 
into which Gerard is raised.~\ 

PERRIN 

Now up with him ! 

[^Lifted by the two lads, Gerard is carried off ^ surrounded by 
the others shouting7[ 

GERARD 
\_From his chair of hands 7\ 
Good-by, Jeannette ; Fm going to be cured. 

JEANNE 
[ Waves to him.'\ 
Adieu, Gerard ! 

THE OTHERS 
[ Going out. 2 
Outre ! Gerard ! Gerard ! 

JEANNE 
\^To Perrin, as he is leaving with the others. ~\ 
Perrin ! 

\_Perrin pauses and looks at Jeanne, who shakes her finger 
at him with a grave smile. He drops his eyes, con- 
fused^ 



JEANNE D' ARC 35 

PERRIN 
But 'tisn't late. 

JEANNE 

The sky's all pink 
And gold behind the bell-tower. 

\Turninghini foward the shrine. '\ 

Naughty Perrin ! 
What will Our Lady say, who leaneth there 
And Hsteneth for her Vesper bell, and heareth 
Perrin at play. 

PERRIN 

I cannot ring just yet. 
The others — 

JEANNE 
[ Thrusting her knitti7ig into his hands. '\ 
Here's a mitten ; 'tis of wool. 
I'll knit thee its fellow before Michaelmas 
If thou wilt run fast to the kirk, and ring 
The bell. 

PERRIN 

Our Lady shall not scold, then. — Mind, 
Thou'lt knit me t'other mitten } 

JEANNE 

I have promised. 
\_Perrin runs off toward Dom7-emy. Jean?ie, going slowly to 
the Ladies^ Tree, leans against the tru?ik, and stands 
looking westward toward the town. As she does so, 
there rises — faint but close by, through the falling twi- 
light — a music of stveet voices, singiiig to the old French 
ballad-melody these words, softly distinguishable^ 



36 JEANNE D'ARC 

THE TWILIGHT VOICES 
Derrier' chez mon pere, 

(Vole, vole, mon coeur vole !) 
Derrier' chez mon pere 

Y'a un pommier doux : 
Tout doux — et iou ! 
Tout doux — et iou ! 
Y'a un pommier doux. 

Trois belles princesses 

(Vole, vole, mon coeur, vole !) 
Trois belles princesses 
Sont assis dessous : 

Tout doux — et iou ! 
Tout doux — et iou ! 
Sont assis dessous. 

Ca dit la premiere, vole, etc. 
Je crois qu'il fait jour. 

Ca dit la seconde — etc. 
J'entends le tambour. 

[Jeanne, pensive, does not hear the melody, nor observe how 
near her, Jrom a7nid the obsciifHty oj the birch trees, there 
emerge the shadowy for??is oJ the Ladies of Lorraine. 
Each oJ these peers Jorth Jrom her own bush or birch or 
flowering shrub, to which her garb — with its lo?ig green 
veil a7id flowing Jorest gown — approximates in to7ie and 
design} Each wears a crown and has an air at once 
queenly and sylvan}\ 

1 Thus the veil of the Lady of the Flowering Thorn is embroidered 
all with thorn blossoms; the gown of the Lady of the Aspen twinkles 
and shivers with little leaves. 



JEANNE D'ARC 37 

THE LADIES OF LORRAINE 

[ Coftti7iuing.~\ 
Ca dit la troisieme — etc. 
C'est mon ami doux. 

II va-t-a la guerre — etc. 
Combattre pour nous. 

\_Ceasing, none of the Ladies entirely dissociates herself 
fro7n her bush or tree, but peering forward, all together, 
they lift from their brows, and hold aloft with their right 
Jiands, their crowns and fillets and therewith lay a spell 
upon Jeanne, who — outwardly oblivious of their pres- 
ence — yet is felt to soliloquize under their influence, not 
beginning to speak until they appear, and ceasing simul- 
taneous with their abrupt departure. '\ 

JEANNE 
\By the Ladies'* Tree."] 
How happily doth all the world go home ! 
The bee hath left the shutting marguerite 
To dust his wings at Pierrot's garden-door 
And hum all night to drowsy chanticleer ; 
The rooks are whirling to the nested eaves. — 
Thou little darling town of Domremy, 
Good night ! Thou winkest with thy lids of vines, 
And layest down within the golden stream 
Thy yellow thatches and thy poplars pale ; 
And thou, too, art upgathered in home-fields ; 
But thy Jeannette must pass away from thee. 
For He who once disdained not to stay 
His wandering star o'er tiny Bethlehem 
Hath, in His love of France, sent unto thee 



38 JEANNE D' ARC 

His shining messengers to fetch thy Maid. 

little town, hush still thy breath and hark ! 
Amid thy narrow streets are angels arming, 
And o'er thy steeping-stones immortal feet 
Are bearing light the undying fleur-de-lis ; 
And from thy roofs clear horns-of-Paradise 

Are blowing wide unto the zenith : Hearken ! — 

Who shall withstand the Lord of Hosts, or who 

Defy His power ? The horses of the Lord 

Are neighing, terrible ; His chariots 

Of thunder crash in darkness, and the voice 

Calleth of His Archangel from the battle : 

"Vive la France ! Victoire ! La France sauvee ! " 

JACQUES D'ARC 

[ Outsider^ 
Along ! Along ! 

\_The Ladies vanish in the foliage. Jeanne stands as in a 
trance. Enter right Jacques, grasping by the wrist 
Colin, who holds back, quaking.~\ 

Where be they ? Show me where ? 

COLIN 

Na, na; I'll not come nigh her. They be gone 
Inside. 

JACQUES 

Inside o' what ? 

COLIN 

The bark and roots : 

1 saw them yonder lifting o' their veils. 

JACQUES 

Where ? . 

% 



JEANNE D'ARC 39 

[ Colin points. '\ 
Those be birches. 

COLIN 

Ladies were they then, 
And peered and peeped at her. 

JACQUES 

At who ? 

COLIN 

Jeannette ; 
I'll not come nigh her. 

JACQUES 

[ Visibly affected, yet will not show it to Colin.'\ 

Pfah ! Thou hast such visions 
As Pertelote, our hen : spyeth the moon, 
And cackleth she hath laid our Lord an egg. — 
Jeannette o' mine, come hither. 

JEANNE 
\_Breaki71g from her revery, goes impetuously to his arms.'\ 

Papa Jacques ! 
JACQUES 

\_Embracing her tenderly, looks toward the birches.^ 

Th' art a good lass, Jeannette. I spake thee harsh 

Awhile since. 

JEANNE 

Will I scold thee for it now } 

JACQUES 

A good lass was thou always ; — but some stubborn. 

JEANNE 

Like Papa Jacques ? 

[Kisses him.~\ 



40 JEANNE D'ARC 

JACQUES 

Aye, Jacques d'Arc hath a will. 
Th* art come short-cut thereby ! But hark'ee, girl ! 
Shut mouth catches no flies. — I'll have thee speak 
No more o' the wars. — What say } I'll have thee be 
Like other village maid-folk — light o' heart, 
Merry to love. — Eh, not } — I'll have thee wed, 
And keep thy goodman's sheep-farm next to mine. 
Come now : What say to Colin } 

JEANNE 

'Tis a good lad. 

JACQUES 

St. John ! 'Tis a good answer. Once again ! 
What say to speak him troth now — man and maid } 

JEANNE 

I may not speak my troth to any man. 

JACQUES 

May not! May not! Who's thy new master, sith 
Thy father died t Who hath forbade thee speak } 
Well, well ; let be ! Thou needst not speak thy troth. 
Look : yonder, Colin holds his sheep-staff out 
Toward thee ; take it, lass, and nothing spoke — 
In token of thy trothal. 

\/eanne, gazing apparently at Colin, clasps suddenly her 
hands in awe^ and makes a humble reverence?^ 

JEANNE 

Monseigneur ! 
Thy maid is ready. 



JEANNE D'ARC 4I 

JACQUES 
[ Who has tur?ied away.~\ 

Take 't and come along. 

JEANNE 

\_To Jacques ."] 
What is that which you see held forth to me ? 

JACQUES 

Seest well thyself 'tis Colin's staff. What for 
Art staring ? 

JEANNE 

'Tis exceeding beautiful 
In glory and in power; its handle gleams 
Bright as the cross of jewels at the mass, 
And oh, its sheath is like an altar-candle. 
\_In the distance a bell begins to ring slowly. Jacques bows 
his head. Colin, awed by Jeanne^s words and expres- 
sion, thrusts the staff upright in the earth and steps 
back a pace Jrom it, superstitious ly.'\ 

JACQUES 

\_Crossi7ig himself. '\ 

The Vespers. 

JEANNE 

\_Sinking to her knees. '\ 

Monseigneur ! 

\At this moment i?i the air beside Colin appears the glorified 
form of St. Michael. Shepherd and Archangel stafid 
contrasted, yet alike i?i posture, looking toward Jeafine.'\ 

JACQUES 

Up, lass ! What aileth ? 
Wilt take the sheep-crook ? 



42 JEANNE D 'ARC 

JEANNE 

Wilt thou have me take 
What in the turf stands yonder ? 

JACQUES 

In God's name ! 

JEANNE 

In God's name, then, I take it. 

[Reaching out, she pauses a?id draws back — her face lifted 

to St. MichaeVs — as, in the cadence of the bell, he 

speaks, ] 

ST. MICHAEL 

\Slowly extending his hand.'\ 

Jeanne the Maid, , 

Behold the staff I bring thee is my sword. 

\Lightly laying his hand upon the staff, instantaneously his 
touch transfoi-ms it to a perpendicular sword, its point 
pierci7ig the turf, its cross-for?ned handle and its sheath 
glowing with variegated fire ?^ 

Take it in vow of thy virginity. 

And to perform the bidding of thy Lord — 

That thou, in armour girded as a man 

Shalt go to raise at Orleans the great siege, 

And after, crown the Dauphin, Charles of France, 

Anointed King at Rheims. 

COLIN 
[Pointing^ 

The crook, Jeannette ! 



Take it in troth. 



ST. MICHAEL 
\Pointing.'\ 
Take it in troth, Jeanne d'Arc. 



JEANNE D'ARC 43 

JEANNE 
In God His name, I take it as from Him 
To whom my vow is given. 

\Extending her hand, Jea7ine touches the sword ; then bows 
her head as St. Michael disappears^ 

JACQUES 

So ; she hath touched 
Thy staff in trothal, lad. Now home with ye 
Together. 

COLIN 
Come, Jeannette. 

JEANNE 

First, I will pray. 
JACQUES 

\Aside to Colin.'] 
The Vespers ! — Come along. — She'll follow us. 

COLIN 

\_Going out, sings.] 

Sith for Charity 

My love her troth me gave, 
My troth hath she 

I her have. 

[Exit Colin. Jacques, looking back at Jeanne, crosses him- 
self, muttering, and exit. Twilight deepens. Blending 
with the tones of the chapel bell are heard two Voices.] 

THE FIRST VOICE 

Jeanne d'Arc! 

JEANNE 
[ Calling.] 
St. Margaret ! 



44 JEANNE D'ARC 



St. Catherine ! 



THE SECOND VOICE 

Jeanne la Pucelle ! 

JEANNE 



THE TWO VOICES 

Daughter of God, go forth ! 

\^Jeanney on the turf, kneels before the cross of the shining 
sword. Vespers continue to ring^ 



ACT II 

Scene: The Castle of Chinon. March 8, 1429. 

An audience-hally sparsely furnished with an indigent mag- 
nificence. 

The chief entrance at back is in the centre. On the right of 
this an ornate clock, with chimes. On the left, high in 
the wall, a stained-glass window depicts the Emperor 
Charlemagne, with the shield of France, holding a 
crown. Against the left wall, a throne-chair with 
canopy; in the right wall, a fireplace with chimney-seat. 
At the oblique angle of the right and back walls, a stair- 
way descends from a colonnade, partly visible without. 

The sceiie, opening, discovers King Charles seated on an 
arm of the throne-chair, with ofie foot on the seat, the 
other crossed over his k7iee. Round his neck, behind, 
is hung a placard, lettered in red and gold : 

LE ROI 

DAGOBERT 

C'est Moi 

He is surrounded by Ladies of the Court, who are merrily 
shouting a song, whilst they watch the royal Tailor, 
who bends assiduously over the King's crossed leg, ply- 
ing his thread and needle. Beside him stands his spool- 
and-shears basket. 

Apart f'om these, at a table near the fire, are seated La 
Tremouille and Di^ Chartres. The former is busily 
engaged in looking over a pile of parchments. From 
time to time he is approached with great reverence by 
servants and courtiers. 

45 



46 JEANNE D'ARC 

THE LADIES 
\_Sing to the old ballad-tune.'] 
'Twas good King Dagobert 
His breeches wrong-side-out did wear. 
Quoth his Master of Stitches : 
**Your Majesty's breeches, 
To put it mild strongly, 
Are put on well wrongly." 
*' Eh bien ! " the King he cried, 
"Just wait and I'll turn 'em right side." 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_To Vendome, the Chamberlain^ 

This seal to the Receiver-General ; 

These parchments to the Treasurer of War. 

THE LADIES 

God save King Dagobert ! 

THE TAILOR 

Good Majesty 
Doth wear the seam outside. 

CHARLES 

Why not, old Stitches t 
I'll set the fashion so ; I am chafed too long 
With wearing o' the seamy-side within. 

CATHERINE 
\^Aside to Diane.] 

Still munching the old cud of melancholy — 
His mother. 



JEANNE D'ARC 47 

DIANE 

Why his mother ? 

CATHERINE 



She called him — 



Shh ! They say 



DIANE 
Hein ? 



CATHERINE 

They spell it with a "b." 

ATHENIE 

Imperial Dagobert, permit thy slave 
To be thy needle-woman. 

CATHERINE 

Nay, let me ; 
My silk is threaded. 

DIANE 

'Twere a thousand pities 

To wholly sheathe so glorious a sword ! 

\_Touchtng the King's /eg.'] 

Is it of gold ? 

CHARLES 

Ah, lady, would it were, 

And I would lend it out at usury 

To line your purse withal. — Alas, madame, 

'Tis a poor limb charr'd with celestial fire. 

[ Waves her back,] 

CATHERINE 
Ladies, we may not look. We must content 
Our souls with incense of the burning thigh. 



48 JEANNE D'ARC 

DE CHARTRES 
\To La Tremouille, amid the Ladies' laughter^ 
Is it possible ? 

LA TREMOUILLE 

They are his only pair ; 
The rest he pawned this morning. These being torn, 
He calls the tailor and commands the ladies 
To acclaim him as King Dagobert. 

DE CHARTRES 

What for? 

LA TREMOUILLE 

For novelty. One day he'll hang himself 
For novelty. 

THE TAILOR 

Your Majesty is mended. 

CHARLES 

Approach, mesdames, and view the royal patch. 

ATHENIE 
But where } 

CATHERINE 

I cannot see it. 

CHARLES 

Even so ! 
Your patch is virtue's own epitome, 
The smooth'd-up leak in honour's water-mark, 
The small fig-leaf that shadows Paradise, 
The tiny seal of time and turpitude. 
Which for to prove, sweet dames, bethink you how 
The great Achilles — he who fought and sulked 



I 



JEANNE D'ARC 49 

Outside the walls of Troy — was once a babe, 

(Babes will occur, mesdames !) and had a mother 

(The best of us have mothers, though not all 

Be goddesses). His mother was called Thetis, 

And when she dipped him in the immortal wave, 

She held him by the heel — thus — thumb and finger, 

That ever afterward upon the heel 

He wore a patch — a little viewless patch. 

Whereby he came to dust. The moral's plain : 

A little patch is greater than a god. 

And therefore this your prince, poor Dagobert, 

Doth kiss his hands to you and abdicate 

In lieu of one more royal lord — King Patch. 

Acclaim him ! 

\_Siepping down, Charles mounts the Tailor upon the throne^ 
on the seat of which he stands, in alarmed confusio7t.'\ 

THE TAILOR 

Majesty ! — Sweet ladies ! 

THE LADIES 

Hail! 

CHARLES 
Behold the man who mendeth Alexander, 
And ravelleth up the rended Caesar's wounds: 
Lo ! moth corrupteth us, and mildew stains, 
Diana frays her moon-white taffeta. 
Yea, Phoebus sullieth his golden hose. 
Fate makes or mars us, but King Patch doth mend ! 

BOULIGNY 
\_Having just entered, claps his palm ^ 
Par excellence, a Cicero ! 



50 JEANNE D'ARC 

CHARLES 
[Bowing. ] 

Your servant, 
Bouligny ! — now to crown him, ladies. 

THE LADIES 

Crown him ! 

[ Catherine snatches up the work-basket and, inverting^ lifts 
it — da7tgling with spools, dobbins, and shears — tow- 
ard the Tailor. '\ 

THE TAILOR 

Dames ! Gentle dames ! 

CATHERINE 
[Thrusting the basket over his head.^^ 
A crown ! 

DIANE 
[Forcing a yardstick into his hand. "] 

A sceptre ! 

THE TAILOR 
[From within the basket."] 

Virgin ! 

ALL 

Long live King Patch ! 

[TTie Tailor, extricating himself, giggling and grinning a 
scared smile, bobs and kisses his palm to Charles and 
the Ladies, who shout with laughter.] 

THE TAILOR 

Pardon and compliments ! 
Pardon, mesdames, seigneurs, and compliments ! 



JEANNE D' ARC 5 1 

\_At the height of this royal mockery^ there enters from the col- 
onnade, D'Alencon — a quiet, contrasting figure. He 
is scribblifig o?i a parchment and pauses. Glancing 
fro??i the throne-chair scene, he turns to where La Tre- 
mouille and De Chart?'es are talking together apart, 
and silently approaches them.~\ 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_Pointing at the Tailor.'] 
Behold the King of France enthroned. 



You mean 



DE CHARTRES 

That we must strive to keep him thus. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

I mean 
That he who holds a mortgage on a king 
May keep the sceptre for security 
During the debt's outstanding. 

DE CHARTRES 

How the sceptre .? 

LA TREMOUILLE 

The power, De Chartres ; like yonder Knave of 

Spools 
Charles wields the royal yardstick, but the King 
Of France — the man that reigjis — c'est moi ! 

DE CHARTRES 

And I ? 

LA TREMOUILLE 
[^Graciously.] 
My privy council. 



52 JEANNE D' ARC 

\Suddenly ; over his shoulder observing D^ Alengon.'^ 
Ah, D'Alengon ! — 
Poeticizing ? 

D'ALENgON 

Yes ; I am composing 
A rondel on the weather, called " It rains y 

\I)e Chartres and La Tremouille glance at each other quizzi- 
cally. With a studious look D'Alengon turns away, and 
takes from the fireplace a book.~\ 

THE COURT LADIES 

A speech ! A coronation speech ! 

THE TAILOR 

Mesdames, 
Seigneurs, and compliments ! If Majesty 
Would pay to me my wage, and let me go. 

CHARLES 
Thy wage, pardieu ! O heart of emery ! 
Sharpen your needles in him, ladies. Wage ! 
Wage for a patch ! 

THE TAILOR 

Nay, Majesty, a year — 
One year, last Candlemas, 'tis overdue. 

CHARLES 

Hark to the bobbin buzz ! What, take thy wages ! 
Wilt bear *em on thy back } A twelvemonth, here ! 
One month — two — three — four ! 

\_Snatching from him the yardstick ^ Charles thwacks the 
Tailor down from the throne, whence he runs, pursued 
by the Ladies, who prick his sides with their needles^ 



JEANNE D'ARC 53 

THE TAILOR 

[Running off.~\ 

Charity, mesdames ! 
[^Exit'] 

CHARLES 

\^PauseSf laughing, and greets D'Alengon, who, over his book^ 

has been looking keenly on.] 

What think you of our royal sport, D'Alengon ? 

D'ALENgON 

No king, sire, could more quaintly lose his kingdom. 

[Charles, ceasing his laughter with a conscious look, vaguely 
ashamed, hesitates, then follows D''Alengon, who has 
turned away, and — walking aside with him — grows 
strangely serious^ 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_To De Chartres.~\ 
Behold my Rome and Rubicon. 

DE CHARTRES 

What — yonder ? 

LA TREMOUILLE 

That man is in my way ; he must be crossed 
Before the King is mine. 

DE CHARTRES 

That bookworm duke ! 

LA TREMOUILLE 
His influence grows. 

DE CHARTRES 

Nay, hardly with the King ! 



54 JEANNE D'ARC 

LA TREMOUILLE 

De Chartres, you know not Charles; he's hke a tree- 
frog 
That takes the colour of the bark it clings to. 
Watch how demure he holds the young duke's sleeve 
And alters to the dim scholastic hue 
Of vellum and antique philosophy ; 
As quickly would he turn blood-colour, if 
The duke should flush with feeling. 

DE CHARTRES 

Feeling ! Flush } 
Why, 'tis a rhyming clerk ! — a duke of parchment ! 
The mere illumination of a man 
Stuck in life's margin to adorn the text. 
He feels for naught this side the Fall of Troy. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

You have forgot *' It rains " } 

DE CHARTRES 

A foolish pun ! 

LA TREMOUILLE 
About myself : that theme, at least, is new 
Since Troy fell. No ; I do not trust him. — You 
Were best to interrupt their tete-a-tete. 

VENDOME 
\_At the door, announces to Charles. ~\ 
His Majesty's bootmaker! 

CHARLES 

Show him here. 



JEANNE D 'ARC 5 5 

DE CHARTRES 

\_As Charles turns mo77ientarily towat'd Venddme, touches 

D' Alenqori' s volume and speaks to him.] 

Who wrote the book ? 

D'ALENgON 

Pierre Lombard, pupil once 
Of Abelard, who sang to Heloise. 

DE CHARTRES 

\_Frowni71g suspicion.'] 
Is it godly ? 

D'ALENgON 

That your reverence may judge : 
The writer plucks a hair out of his head, 
Splits it in two, and names the one half Faith 
The other, Heresy. The first he dyes 
Pure gold, the other pitch-black, and both he nails 
As index-fingers on the Church's apse, 
And points one hair toward Heaven, the other — 
elsewhere. 

DE CHARTRES 

I do not comprehend. 

D'ALENgON 
\_C losing the book with a dry smile ^ 
Neither do I ! 
\_Exit D^ Alen^on, right.'] 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\^To De Chartres, who returns pensively to him.] 
What think you now .-* 



56 JEANNE D'ARC 

DE CHARTRES 

I think he thinks too much. 
\_Enter the Bootmaker, a big raw fellow^ in leather. 
He takes a pair of boots from his apron.'] 

BOOTMAKER 

Complete, sire. 

CHARLES 

Let me see them. 

\_T7ie Bootmaker hands him one.] 

Catherine, 
What say you to the cut ? 

CATHERINE 

Perfection, Charles ! 
Your Majesty shall walk like Puss-in-Boots 
When he proclaimed the Marquis of Carabbas. 

CHARLES 
[ IVith sudden ennui, comparing the boot with his lower leg.] 
Perchance 'twill serve to hide Achilles' heel 1 

[_To the Bootmaker.] 
Show me the mate. 

BOOTMAKER 

Six livres, twenty sous. 

CHARLES 

The mate, I said. 

BOOTMAKER 
\_Stolidlyf thrusting the mate under his arm.] 
Six livres, twenty sous. 

CHARLES 

Ah } Charge it on account. I'll take the pair. 



JEANNE D'ARC 57 

BOOTMAKER 
\_Inflexible. ] 
A bird in the hand makes supper in the pot. 

CHARLES 

God's death ! Am I the King ? Set down the boot 
And go ! 

BOOTMAKER 
\_Backing to the door, stands sullenly , swinging the one boot 

by its s traps. ~\ 
Six livres, twenty sous. 

CHARLES 

\Hurling the other boot after him.'\ 

Go dun 
The devil for it ! 

BOOTMAKER 
[Picking up the boot, eyes it over, spits on his apron, and 
with that rubs the toe of the boot carefully. '\ 

Five and twenty sous ! 
\_Exit slowly, a boot in each hand. Charles, having 
watched him go, turns in a pet of frenzy and, flinging 
down upon the throne footstool, speaks hoarsely to him- 
self, weeping.~\ 

CHARLES 

Am I the King.? God, God ! Am I the King } 

DE CHARTRES 
\_Amused, to La Tremouille.'\ 
Have you no smiles for this ? 

LA TREMOUILLE 
[ YawJiing.'] 

'Tis too familiar. 



5 8 JEANNE D 'ARC 

CATHERINE 

[Approaching La Tre?nouiik, obsequiously^ 

The little King of Chinon hath caught the sulks, 
Sieur La Tremouille. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
I'm busy. 

CATHERINE 

Pardon — 
\With an ingraiiatory lifting of the brows and a low 

reverence^ 

— Sire ? 
\_La Tremouille smiles slightly and looks down again at 
his papers. As De Chartres, however, leaves the table 
to speak with Bouligny, La Tre77iouille calls Catherine 
with his eyes, and speaks to her intimately, watching 
with her the King and smiling.'\ 

ATHENIE 

\_To La Hire, who enters r\ 

Marshal, hast heard what ails the King's game-cocks ? 

LA HIRE 

No, dame. 

ATHENIE 

'Tis said that they have shed their spurs, 
And strut amongst the hens i' the castle-yard 
\Flaps her sleeves like a cock's wings.^ 

Crying : " King Noodle-Nothing-Do ! Chez nous ! " 
\La Hire turns away with a grimace.'\ 



JEANNE D'ARC 59 

DIANE 

\_To a Lady.l 

No wonder the King's figure is god-like. 
They say his lady mother had a steward 
Shaped like Apollo. 

CHARLES 
\_From the foots tooi.~\ 

Ladies, I have the ear-ache. 

DIANE 

Beseech you, sire, what may we do to soothe it .? 

CHARLES 
Bring here those honey-flasks of calumny 
And pour them in my ears. Perchance 'twill stop 
This piping noise within. 

ATHENIE 

What piping noise, 
Your Majesty ? 

CHARLES 

A lute within my head : 
A slender lute carven with fleur-de-lis, 
And at the tip a crown of fleur-de-lis. 
And on the stops a lady's fingers lying. 
And on the mouth-piece are a lady's lips. 
And when they breathe, there opes a tiny rift 
Within the fibre, and the hollow thing 
Pipes a shrill hellish whistle — 

\_Leaping up. ] 

A mere rift, 
A little, Uttle rent ! — 



6o JEANNE D' ARC 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Nine thousand francs ! 

CHARLES 

What's that ? 

LA TREMOUILLE 
[ With a side smile at Catherine.'] 
The " little rent " you owe me, Charles. 
A trifle, as you say, and soon patched up. 

CHARLES 

My George ! Thou hast a heart of gold ! — But you 
Must reimburse yourself o' the treasury. 
Bouligny ! 

BOULIGNY 

Sire! 

CHARLES 
How much in the general fund 1 

BOULIGNY 

Eleven francs, five sous, your Majesty. 

CHARLES 

Saint dieu ! no more than that } 

BOULIGNY 

Sieur La Tremouille 
Hath authorized to-day another loan 
From his estates. 

CHARLES 
[Embracing La Tremouille. ] 

My dear, thou art mine angel ! 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Tut, Charlie ! Go and play. 



JEANNE D\1RC 6 1 

CHARLES 

Nay, by my honour, 

But you shall reap your master's gratitude. 

When we have raised our arm imperial 

And flogged with steel these spindling English — 

\The room bursts into a titter ; Charles pauses disconcerted. 
La Tremoiiille^ badly conceali?ig a smile, raises an 
admotiishifig forefinger to the Ladies, who burst into 
louder laughter. Charles, covering his face, turns 
precipitately and is rushing from the room when, in 
the doorway (back) he encounters D^ Alen^on, entering. 
The latter has evidently just been concerned with the 
frayed edges of his scroll of parchment, but now — tak- 
ing in the situation at a glance — he bows to the King 
with siinple reverence^ 

D'ALENgON 

Sire, 
You are generous to cover my confusion. 
Yet if these gentles choose to laugh at me — 

CHARLES 
[Bewildered.'] 
At yoii ! 

D'ALENgON 

Why, they are right. You spoke of war, 
Of frays where brave men break their limbs and 

lances, 
When lo ! — I enter, mending of a parchment. 
Should not they laugh } 'Tis such as I, my King, 
Such dog-eared captains skulking in their books. 
Such Frenchmen, idling in satiric ease 
While France lies struck and bleeding — such who 

bring 



62 JEANNE D'ARC 

Your Majesty's dear reign dishonour. Thanks, 
Friends of Chinon ! Thanks for your keen rebuke. 
I know what you would say : Here stands our King, 
Our sacred liege, namesake of Charlemagne, 
And we, who take our dignities from him. 
And only shine because we are his servants. 
Much it becomes us now, in his great need, 
To be no more his gossips, chamberlains 
And poetasters — 

[ Tea7'ing his parchment. ] 

but his soldiers. Pray, 
Sieur La Tremouille, throw this in the fire : 
This is that little rondel on the weather. 
[ With emotion, he offers his hand to La Tremouille, who 

refuses it icily ^^ 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Your fire will scarce prevent its raining still, 
If Heaven so wills it, sir. 

D'ALENgON 
\At first feels the repulse keenly, then speaks in quiet disdain^ 

True, if Heaven wills it. 

\Turning to the hearth, UAlenqon throws the parchment 

into the flames. '\ 

CHARLES 
[ Giving him his hand, diffidently^ 
D'Alengon — thanks ! 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\To De Chartres.'] 

Our scrimmage now is on. 
Let see which wins. 



JEANNE D'ARC 63 

ATHENIE 

The duke was warm. 

CATHERINE 

La ! Let 

Our little King still dream his name is France. 
Sure, he will soon believe this milking-maid 
Who comes to crown him. 

ATHENIE 

Milking-maid } 
CATHERINE 

Why, she 
Who rode in town the eve of yesterday, 
The soldier-shepherdess, — Jeanne la Pucelle, 
The people call her. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

The dear people love 
To label any peasant drab a "virgin," 
And every charlatan a " shepherdess." 

LA HIRE 

Tonnerre de dieu ! What man hath seen the face 

Of Jeanne the Maid and named her charlatan ? 

Her face — God's eyes! When I am cooked and 

damn'd, 
And devils twirl me on a spit in hell, 
I'll think upon that face and have redemption. 

D'ALENgON 
[ WJio has listened with eager interest?^ 
Then you have seen her } 



64 JEANNE D'ARC 

LA HIRE 

Once, and ever since 
My fingers have been itching at my sword 
To crack an English skull and win her smile. 

DIANE 

miracles ! Monsieur the Growler speaks 
In praise of women. 

CATHERINE 
Ah, my love, but think 
How man's gear doth become the maiden shape. 

LA HIRE 
\To La Tremouille.'] 
And if she be not white as maidenhood, 

1 will — before these ladies and your Grace — 
Pluck out mine eye-teeth. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Save them, sir ; 'tis plain 
She hath already plucked your wisdom out. 

[^Deliberately.~\ 
I do not love this Jeanne. 

LA HIRE 
\_B owing.'] 

I do. Seigneur. 

ATHENIE 
[ With awe, aside to DianeJ] 
He'd better have drunk poison than said that. 



JEANNE D'ARC 65 

D'ALENgON 

Marshal La Hire, your hand ! Fame hath described 

you — 
Your pardon ! — as a rake-hell, hydrophobious 
Gascon, who bites at all men — 

\_Gla7icing at La Tremouille^ 

even favourites. 
I pray, sir, as the fire regales the hearth-mouse, 
Grant me your friendship. 

LA HIRE 
\_Giving his hand.'] 

Sir, you have it — hot. 

D'ALENgON 

This Jeanne the Maid, you think she is — inspired 'i 

LA HIRE 

No, sir ! — I know it. 

D'ALENCON 
\With a faint, indulgent smile ?^ 
This will interest 
His Majesty: pray, will you tell him more .-' 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_lVatching D^Ale7i^o?i escort La Hire to Charles?)^ 
By God, the man usurps me. 

DE CHARTRES 

But I thought 
You laid an ambush for this charlatan 
To keep her from the King. 



66 JEANNE D' ARC 

LA TREMOUILLE 

The plan failed. Now 
She is quartered here within the castle tower. 
The doctors of Poitiers are with her there, 
Cross-questioning her faith and sanity. 

DE CHARTRES 

Will, then, the King receive her t 

LA TREMOUILLE 

He must not. 
No ; from this castle's tower she must depart 
Back to Lorraine. 

[Indicating D''Alen^on and La Hire?[ 

These babblers must be hushed. 
And Jeanne's reception foiled. Such sparks make 

flames. 
Already she hath kindled the people ; soon 
She might inflame the King himself to action ; 
Then — follow me! If France should whip the 

English, 
Charles would be solvent. 

DE CHARTRES 

And you really fear 
Lest one weak girl shall overturn the world } 

LA TREMOUILLE 
One should/^(2r nothing ; what one knows is this : 
* Well for oneself is well enough for the world.' 
In short, at present all is well for me. 



JEANNE D'ARC 67 

D'ALENgON 
\_To Vendojue, who has entej-ed and spoken with him.\ 
Bring here the men ; they shall be very welcome. 

LA HIRE 

Our livers are too fat, your Majesty. 
We Frenchmen are a herd of potted geese, 
A pat^ de fois gras to cram the bellies 
Of British mongrels. 

CHARLES 
Still, sir, — - 

LA HIRE 

Ventre dii diable ! 

Flanders, Artois, Champagne, and Picardy, 

Normandy — gobbled, all of 'em ! And now 

Talbot, the English mastiff, with his whelps, 

Squats on his haunch and howls at Orleans' gate, 

And Scales and Suffolk bark around the walls. 

God's bones ! and what do we ? Seize up our cudgels 

And drive the curs back to their island-kennel t 

Nay, sire, we scare 'em off with nursery-songs. 

CHARLES 

You speak your mind a little harshly, Marshal } 

LA HIRE 

I keep but one about me, sire, and that 

Is hkely to go off in people's noses 

Like this new brand of snuff called gunpowder. 

\To a servant who has come to him front La T7'emouine.'] 
His grace would wish to speak with me ? — Delighted! 
S^He follows the servant to La Trejnonille, who speaks aside 

to himT^ 



68 JEANNE D'ARC 

CHARLES 
[ Utterly dejected by La Hire's words. '\ 
What can I do, D'Alen^on ? I am pawned 
And patched and mortgaged to my finger-nails. 
The very turnspits in the kitchen whistle 
For wages at me, and I bid them whistle. 
What can I do but play at King ? 

D'ALENgON 

A change 
Of policy would bring you instant funds. 
Your people would recover your lost cities, 
If you would captain them. 

CHARLES 

My people ! Ah ! 
'Tis God alone could make this people mine, 
By consecrated rite and taintless seed 
From sire to royal son. I had a mother, 
Who left me for her royal legacy 
A monstrous doubt in a tiny syllable : 
Legitimate or //legitimate t — 
Cure me that ill, and I will conquer Europe. 

D'ALENgON 

Boethius saith, there is one antidote 
To being born ; that is — philosophy. 

LA HIRE 
\_To La Tremouille.'] 

Excuse me, sir ! This silence is too golden 
For me to keep it by me. I have heard, 



JEANNE D'ARC 69 

When I was hatched, the mid-wife split my tongue 
And had me suckled by a certain jackdaw, 
That was the village wet-nurse. — Who can vouch 
For all one hears ? 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Silence must come to all : 
To some a little sooner. — I have said. 

LA HIRE 

\_Bo'wing^ 

As soon as God shall have your Grace's permit, 

I shall be ready ! {Lower) Yet I warn your Grace, 

Bury me not too shallow under sod, 

Lest, where the stink is, other jackdaws scratch 

And cause your Grace's nose embarrassment. 

\_Reenter Venddme, followed by De Metz andD^. Poulangy, 
whom he escorts to D'Alengon and Charles?^ 

D'ALENgON 
Your name } 

DE METZ 

Mine : Jean de Metz, servant of France. 

D'ALENgON 
And yours .-* 

DE POULANGY 

Bertrand de Poulangy. 

D'ALENgON 
{^To both.'] 

Your master } 

DE METZ 

Robert de Baudricourt of Vaucouleurs. 



70 JEANNE D'ARC 

CHARLES 
He sent you to conduct this shepherdess 
Here to our castle ? 

DE METZ 

And beseech you, King, 
To give her audience. 

D'ALENgON 

You travelled shrewdly 
To escape the English and Burgundians. 
They hold the river-bridges and the fords. 

DE METZ 
We escaped by miracle : at black of night, 
We swam our horses through the swollen streams ; 
At dawn, we couched in hiding ; at our side 
She slept all day in armour ; and we prayed. 
It was the Maid who brought us safely here. 

D'ALENgON 

Nay, but you say you were in hiding. 

DE METZ 

Yet 
It was the Maid ; she said it should be so. 

D'ALENgON 

Can she, then, prophesy } 

DE METZ 

She is from God. 

D'ALENgON 
\_S7niling.'\ 
You told us — from Lorraine ! 



JEANNE D' ARC yi 

DE METZ 

Even so from God. 
Out of Lorraine, beside the Ladies' Tree, 
Shall come a maid — saviour of France. 

CHARLES 

What's that } 

D'ALENgON 

A legend old as Merlin. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
[ Wlio has approached^ 

And as heathen. 
\To De Metz and De Poulangy.'] 
You are dismissed. 

DE METZ 
[Zb Charies.'\ 

Beseech your Majesty 
To grant her audience ! 

DE POULANGY 

She is from God. 

DE CHARTRES 

That shall the judgment of the Church decide. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

The door is open. 

DE METZ 
\Siipplicatingly. ] 
Gracious King ! 

CHARLES 

But George — 



72 JEANNE D' ARC 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Don't fear ; the beggars shall not plague thee, boy. 

CHARLES 

Nay, by St. Denis ! but they plague me not. 
A March-mad peasant-wench will pass the time. 
I'll see the lass. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Good-nature kills thee, Charles. 
[^Dismissing De Metz and De Poulangy with a gesture^ 
His Majesty regrets — 

D'ALENgON 

His Majesty 
Regrets he might not sooner speak with her. 
\To the Cha7nberlain?[ 

Vendome, go with these men, and tell the Maid 
The King will see her now. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_Eying D^ Alengon with shrewd defiance.^ 

Sir, is this wise .'* 

D'ALENgON 

Whether 'tis wise, your Grace, depends perhaps 
Whether one holds a first or second mortgage. 
Foreclosure of a second might be folly. 

[A slight pause. 1 

LA TREMOUILLE 

What's this — a parable ? 



JEANNE D' ARC 73 

D'ALENgON 

Why, what you please ; 
Call it a hook and line. I knew a man 
Who turned fish-monger of an Easter eve. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
[ With a piqued smile and shrug.'] 
Nonsense prevails! 

[_As De Metz and De Poulangy go out^ he turns aside to De 

Chartres."] 

The devil fetch this duke ! 
I would I knew what he hath loaned to Charles. 

CHARLES 
[Pensively.'] 
" Out of Lorraine, beside the Ladies' Tree, 
Shall come a maid — saviour of France." — D'Alen- 

9on ! 
What if this wench, green from her vines and cheeses, 
Her sheep-shears and her spindle, should dispel 
My sovereign doubt. — Nay, listen ! If she be 
From God indeed, and I be truly King, 
She should detect my royal sanctity 
Under what guise soever ; ought she not .? 

D'ALENgON 

There are some powers of nature little known. 
But what may be your plan .'' 

CHARLES 

I say, unless 
She be a charlatan, or I base-born. 
She'll recognize me by her holy vision 
As King amongst a thousand. 



74 JEANNE D'ARC 

LA TREMOUILLE 

\Eagerly?\^ 

That must follow, 
Of course. 

D'ALENgON 

I think it follows not ; but, sire, 
What means of testing — 

CHARLES 

This! She comes but newly 
From far Lorraine, hath never seen my face. 
Nor heard my voice, nor set foot in this hall. 
Good ! You and I, D'Alengon, shall change cloaks, 
You shall be King — she hath not seen thee ? 

D'ALENgON 

Never. 

CHARLES 

Good! I will be D'Alengon and stand here 
One of the court, subordinate, whilst you 
Sit yonder on the throne-chair — Charles of France. 
Then let her enter. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Bravo, Charles ! A plot 
Of genius ! 

CHARLES 

Nay, a pleasant ruse. 
D'ALENgON 

But if 

She fail to uncloak the counterfeit ? Such slips 
Are common to the best of us. 



JEANNE D'ARC 75 

CHARLES 

At least 

We shall have killed an hour in a new way, 

And one less hoax to trouble us. 

VENDOME 
\Announces at the door.~\ 

The Maid ! 
The reverend masters are conducting her 
Here to your Majesty. 

CHARLES 

Be quick, D'Alen9on ! 
\_As Cha?'les, stripping off his outer garment, reaches it to 
D' Alen^on, La Tremouille beckons Vetidome to hifnself.'] 

D'ALENgON 

\Hesitati7ig.'\ 
You wish it, sire ? 

CHARLES 
At once. 
\_They exchange cloaks, but the placard of King Dagobert is 
discarded to a servant.'] 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_To Vendome, indicating to him the fact of the exchange.] 

You understand. 
\^Exit Venddme.] 
\\Vith an exultant smile, to De Chartres.] 
This whim of Charles's relieves us of much pains. 
Look where he prays to the glass emperor. 

\_La Trejuouille points at Charles, who — ivearing D' Alen- 
qon^s cloak of dun — stands betieath the wiiidow of 
stained glass, and supplicates it, apart.] 



J6 JEANNE D' ARC 

CHARLES 

Thou, Charlemagne, dead sire and mighty saint ! 

If in my veins thy hallowed blood still runs, 

Let through this mean disguise thy royal spirit shine. 

And make, in me, thy race and honour manifest. 

\_D'' Alen^on^ wearing Charles's royal cloak, sits on the throne. 
All those present range themselves as his subjects^ some 
standing near, others closing about Charles^ where he 
stands {right centre). 

Reenter then, at back, Vendome, followed by Doctors 
of the Church ; these by De Metz and De Poulangy, 
who stand by the door ; last enters Jeanne^ dressed as a 
man. The Doctors, exchangi7ig with Vendome a hardly 
detectable look of understanding, approach D^Alengon, 
make their obeisances, and stand away. Venddme, 
motioning then to Jeanne, moves forward to conduct her 
to D* Alen^on as king, but pauses as she does not follow. 
Standing in the doorway, Jeanne, lifting her face in- 
tensely toward the stained-glass window, seems to listen. 
At the same moment, while the eyes of all are centred 
upon Jeanne, there emerges from the great fireplace, 
where logs are burning, and stands upon the hearth 
with flaming wings, St. Michael, who gazes also at 
Jeanne. The only sound or other motion in the hall 
is caused by the Court-fool, who, springing up from the 
throne-footstool to whisper of the Maid in U Alen^on' s 
ear, sets thereby the bells 07i his cap to tinkling silverly. 
Simultaneously, the voice of St. Catherine speaks, as 
from mid-air.~\ 

THE VOICE 

Daughter of God, choose boldly. 

[ Glancing slowly through the hall, the eyes of Jeanne meet 
those of St. Michael, who points with his hand at 



JEANNE D'ARC yy 

CharleSy then turns and disappears within the smoke 
and glow of the fireplace. Moving then with decision, 
Jeanne follows Vendome, but oblivious of D^Alen^on, 
passes on straight to Charles, before whom she kneels 
down.\ 

JEANNE 

Gentle Dauphin, 

My name is Jeanne the Maid, and I am come 
To bring you tidings from the King of Heaven 
That He by means of me shall consecrate 
And crown you King at Rheims. 

\The hall remains silent and awed. Charles is visibly 

moved.'] 



CHARLES 



I am not the King. 



JEANNE 

Truly you are the Dauphin — Charles of France, 
Who shall be King when God anointeth you 
In His cathedral. 

D'ALENgON 
By my fay, young maid, 
Thou dost not flatter us with homage. Rise 
And stand before us. We are Charles of France. 

JEANNE 

I rise, Seigneur, but not unto the King. 
You are not Charles of France. 

DE CHARTRES 
[ With emotio?i, aside to La Trefnouille.'] 

This troubles me, 



78 JEANNE D'ARC 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_Caustically.~\ 
We have been tricked somewhere. 

D'ALENgON 

'Tis plain, good Jeanne, 
That thou art wandered in some winter's tale, 
Wherein lese-majeste to fairy-princes 
Doth Uttle matter. You are smiling ? What 
Do we remind you on } 

JEANNE 
[^Meeting his mood.~\ 

In truth, Seigneur, 
At home in Domremy where I was born 
There lives an old good-wife, who used to tell 
How Master Donkey wore King Lion's mane. 

LA HIRE 

[Exploding in laughter. '\ 
Tonnerre ! 

JEANNE 

\_Changing instantly^ 

Nay, honourable lords, and you 
Fair gentlewomen, truly am I come 
Into your midst — a sheep-maid dull and rude. 
Pass on ! Of that no more. But which of you 
Hath cunning to deceive the sight of God ? 
Or which would speak a lie unto his Lord ? 
My Lord hath sent me here. His messenger, 
But He hath girt me with a thousand more 
Whose eyes are many as the nesting birds 



JEANNE D' ARC 79 

And voices as cicadas in the summer. 

Lo ! in this hall they hover o'er you now, 

But your dissembling eyes send up a mist 

To obscure their shining wings. O gentles, mock 

No more, but show God your true faces ! 

\_A pause^ filled with the various pantomime of uneasiness, 

admiration^ and wonder. All look for decision to 

D^Alen^07i.'] 

D'ALENgON 

\Rising abruptly^ co77ies downJ] 

Maid, 
I lied to you. I am the Duke d'Alengon. 

JEANNE 

Dearer to France as duke than King, Seigneur. 

[^She extends to him her hand — strongs peasantly, with a 
frank sinile. He takes it, amazed, and unconsciously 
continues to hold it.] 

CHARLES 
[^Exultant, seizes La Tremouille^s shoulder.] 
She knew me, George ! Unswervingly, at once. 
In spite of all our cunning. — 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Hm! 

CHARLES 

She knew me ; 
George ! but you saw. 

LA TRExMOUILLE 

These charlatans are shrewd 

CHARLES 

What ? — What ! 



80 JEANNE D'ARC 

LA TREMOUILLE 
I cannot say. 

CHARLES 

Behold ! 



But you beheld, 



LA TREMOUILLE 

It may be. — I have heard — who knows 
What hidden conspirator — Satan perhaps. 

CHARLES 

Satan ! 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Why not ? 

CHARLES 
\Aside^ imploringly. J 

D'AIengon, question her ! 
What deem you of this proof ? What is this maid ? 

\_D^Alengon, having started at being addressed^ has released 
Jea7zne^s hand.~\ 

D'ALENgON 
I know not, sire. — 'Tis that which fascinates me. 

[Looking again at Jeanne with his former friendly puzzled 
look, he hesitates, then speaks, embarrassed. Through- 
out the following brief scene — stirred by mingled mysti- 
fication and admiration of the peasant girl — he, in his 
questionings halts occasionally ; in which gaps La Tre- 
mouille steps shrewdly in.'] 

D'ALENgON 
Jeanne d'Arc, you have well stood — or seemed to 

stand — 
Our playful ruse — his Majesty's and mine — 
To test your boasted powers. 



JEANNE D'ARC 8 1 

JEANNE 

[Simply. ] 

I have no powers 
To boast, Seigneur. 

D'ALENgON 
You have been catechised 
Already by these reverend Doctors here ? 

JEANNE 

Since dawn they have not ceased to question me. 

D'ALENCON 

What is your verdict thus far, Master Seguin } 

SEGUIN 

Your Grace, we find no fault in her. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

\_Aside to De Chartres.~\ 

Come, come ; 
"N ow j/ou are needed. 

DE CHARTRES 
[Aside, moved with confusion?^ 
I believe in her. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Our privy council fails us now } 

DE CHARTRES 

Her face ! 



Pardieu ! 

G 



LA TREMOUILLE 
[Acidly. '\ 



82 JEANNE D'ARC 

D'ALENgON 
\To Jeanne?^ 
What is this boon which you have come 
To beg his Majesty ? 

JEANNE 

I beg, Seigneur, 
A troop of the good fighting-men of France, 
That I may lead them, by the help of God, 
To drive from France the wicked Englishmen 
That 'siege his town of Orleans. 

LA HIRE 
\_Striding back and forth.'] 

Sacre bleu! 
Boil 'em in peppermint. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
[To Jeanne f intervening, as UAlengon gazes i7t admiration.'] 

Most excellent ! 
That thou, a shepherd lass, shouldst leave thy wool 
To instruct our captains in the craft of war. 

JEANNE 

My Lord hath willed it so. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Who is thy lord } 

JEANNE 

The King of Heaven that is the King of France 
Till He shall crown the Dauphin. 



JEANNE D'ARC 83 

D'ALENgON 
[71? La Tremouille.'] 

Sir, your pardon : 
/ am now catechiser. — Slowly, Jeanne : 
If God hath willed to bring deliverance 
To France, then soldiers are superfluous. 
Why do you ask for soldiers ? 

JEANNE 

En nom De ! 
The soldiers are to fight, and God to give 
The victory. 

\Miirmurs of approbation. ] 

D'ALENgON 
You do not then believe 
In God His power ? 

JEANNE 
\Gravely.'\ 
Better than you, Seigneur. 

D'ALENgON 
\^At first amused, then strangely moved by this character- 
reading, drops again the thread of his questioning in self- 
revery.~\ 

Better than I ! 

\_He cofitinues to watch and listen to Jeanne, absorbed in her 
as in so7ne prob/em unsolved.~\ 

LA TREMOUILLE 

You have observed, my friends, 
The circling orbit of these arguments, 



84 JEANNE D'ARC 

That veer like swallows round a chimney hole. 
Clearly we must await some valid sign 
Before we trust this maid. 

JEANNE 

My noble masters ! 
I come not to Chinon to show you signs, 
But give me those good fighters, and for sign 
I will deliver Orleans. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Have you, then, 
No other sign to show ? 

JEANNE 

I have, indeed, 
A sign — but not for you. It may be seen 
By one alone, my Dauphin. 

CHARLES 

Me ! By me } 

JEANNE 

O gentle Dauphin, by the love you bear 

To France, and by the love of France for you. 

Hear me — but not with these. 

CHARLES 
\_To all.'] 

Leave us alone. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_Aside^ 
Remember, Charles, what black confederate 
Instructs this man-maid. 



JEANNE D'ARC 85 

CHARLES 

Let the court withdraw. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_Dryly, to Charles.'^ 
I stay, my dear ! 

JEANNE 
[ Very quietly, standing with her eyes focussed far.'] 

The Seigneur will withdraw. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_Drawing away after the others toward the stairway, over- 
takes De ChartreSy aside.] 

She is possessed. 

DE CHARTRES 

By angels. 

D'ALENgON 
[ Withdrawing last with La Hire.] 

Friend La Hire, 
How much of miracle, think you, do we 
Ignore in simple nature ? 

[ Charles is now left alone with Jeanne, beyond the others'' 

hearing^ 

CHARLES 

Shepherdess, 
How knewest thou it was I, among the many ? 

JEANNE 

My Voices said, " Choose boldly," and I knew. 

CHARLES 

What voices, Jeanne ? 



S6 JEANNE D'ARC 

JEANNE 

You must believe in me 
To hear them. 

CHARLES 

Tell me ; is it known of them 
Or thee — this doubt which is my stain and cancer? 

JEANNE 

That doubt is as the darkness of the blind 

Which is not. 

CHARLES 

\_Feverishly.~\ 
Is not ? Oh, give me the sign ! 

JEANNE 

You must believe before you may behold. 

CHARLES 

Look in my eyes, Jeanne ; I begin to see. 

JEANNE 

My Dauphin must believe ; he shall believe. 

CHARLES 
\_Sinkingto his knees.'] 
The crown ! 

JEANNE 

[Inteiise.'] 
Believe ! 

CHARLES 

He lifts it. 

\_The clock begins to chime. In the same instant^ the sun- 
lit form of the Emperor in the stai?ied glass is seen to 



JEANNE D' ARC Sy 

turn toward the King — where he gazes at him past the 
face ofjeafine — and to hold out aloft the glowing crown 
of fleur-de-lis. From the colonnade, the persons of the 
court look on, whisper together, pointing at the King, 
where apparently he is kneeling, struck with adoration, 
at the feet of Jeanne. D^Alengon, standing forivard from 
the rest of the court, is intent iipon Jeanne, as, with the 
inward light of a vision ^nii-rored, her face looks down 
on the King with a mighty iiitcnsity .'\ 

THE EMPEROR IN THE STAINED GLASS 
\_Speaks with the voice of St. Michael^ 

Charles the Seventh ! 
Inheritor of France, legitimate 
By birth — 

CHARLES 
\_Mui'murs?\^ 

Legitimate ! 

THE EMPEROR 

Behold the crown — 
The crown of Charlemagne — which thou shalt wear 
At Rheims. This is the Maid, whom God hath sent 
To bring thy land and thee deliverance. 

\^As the chiming ceases, so the vision. Charles — his hands 
clasped — rises wildly to hisfeet.~\ 

CHARLES 
Charlemagne ! Charlemagne ! Thy blood is vindi- 
cated. 
My lords, this is the Maid of God ! 



88 JEANNE D'ARC 

JEANNE 

\_Staggering slightly as withfaintness^ moves toward D* Alen- 

^on, who comes to her sideJ] 

I am tired ; 
Thy shoulder, friend ! 

CHARLES 
[Kneels again, his arms upraised to the stained glass. '\ 

Charlemagne ! 

D'ALENgON 

\As Jeanne rests her Jorehead on his shoulder, speaks to 

himself dreamily^ 

Why, 'tis a child ! 



JEANNE D'ARC 89 



ACT III 

Scene : A Meadow before the Walls of Orleans. 

May 7, 1429. 

In the near background {occupying a large part of the scene) 
a green k?ioll overlooks the not distant river Loire 
flowing toward the right, and a pa7't of the city wall, 
which sweeps beyond view, left. On this knoll are dis- 
covered Franciscan friars grouped about an altar, be- 
side which floats a white painted banner, sprinkled with 
fleur-de-lis} One of these friars, Pigachon, is dressed 
half in arniour, his cassock — worn over a steel corslet — 
being tucked up, thus revealing his legs encased in steel. 
On the left of the scene are women, old men, and priests 
of Orleans. The foreground and the rest of the adjacent 
meadow are thronged with French officers and soldiery. 
In the midst of the latter {centre), /ea?ine d'' Arc — in 
full armour — is dictatiiig a letter, which Pasquerel, her 
confessor, transcribes on a parchment. 

1 On one side of this banner (which, authentically, was Jeanne's 
personal standard) is depicted — on the ground of fleur-de-lis — Christ 
in Glory, holding the world and giving His benediction to a lily, held by 
one of two angels, who are kneeling at each side; on the other side 
the figure of the Virgin and a shield with the arms of France, sup- 
ported by two angels. 

The friars also have in their charge two smaller banners, viz. : one 
a pennon, on which is represented the Annunciation; the other, a 
banneret, adorned with the Crucifixion. 



90 JEANNE D'ARC 

JEANNE 
" King of England ; and you, Duke of Bedford, 
who call yourself Regent of the Kingdom of France ; 
you, William De la Pole, Earl of Suffolk ; John, Lord 
Talbot ; and you, Thomas Lord Scales, Lieutenants 
of the same duke ; make satisfaction to the King of 
Heaven ; give up to the Maid, who is sent hither by 
God, the keys of all the good towns in France, which 
ye have taken. And as for you, archers, companions- 
in-arms, gentlemen, and others who are before this 
town of Orleans, get you home to your own country 
by God His command ; and if this be not done, then 
once more will we come upon you with so great an 
ha, ha ! as shall be remembered these thousand years. 
Answer now if ye will make peace in this city of 
Orleans, which if ye do not, ye may be reminded on, 
to your much hurt. 

Jhesus Maria — Jehanne la Pucelle." 

Good Pasquerel, I know not A nor B ; 
Where shall I make my cross } 

PASQUEREL 

Here, Angelique. 

[Jeanne makes her cross on the parchment^ which she then 
rolls tight and ties to an arrow. '\ 

JEANNE 

De Metz, ride to the bridge and shoot this arrow 
Across the Loire into the English lines. — 
Wait, aim it toward the tower of the Tournelles 
Into the conning-shaft where Suffolk stands. 

DE METZ 

And if they make no answer t 



JEANNE D 'ARC 9 1 

JEANNE 

We have fought 
Since daybreak. We can fight again till dark ; 
And after that to-morrow, and to-morrow. 

\_Exit De Metz, with the arrow, amid shouts of the people 

and soldiers^ 

DUNOIS 
Your words are brave, Pucelle, and they are holy; 
But holy words are weak against stone walls. 
The English fortress is too strong for us. 

LA HIRE 

Now by the hang'd thieves of Gethsemane ! 

JEANNE 

\_Sternly.'\ 
Gascon ! 

LA HIRE 

Forgive, my captain : by my stick ! 
I swear to God I swore but by my stick. 
You said a man might curse upon his stick. 

JEANNE 

You do well to bethink you. Marshal ; mind, 
Who spits 'gainst Heaven, it falleth on his head. 

\Pulli71g his ear with her ha7id.~\ 
But thou art my brave Growler for all that ! 

\_Jeanne passes to speak earnestly to other office?'s.'\ 

LA HIRE 
Now by my stick, Dunois, without offence, 
Thou liest in thy windpipe and thy gorge 



92 JEANNE D'ARC 

To say the English walls are made of stone ; 
And if the Maid of God shall say the word, 
By supper-time we'll roll 'em out as flat 
As apple-jacks, with English blood for syrup. 

DUNOIS 
Truly the Maid of God hath wrought strange things 
Yet there be bounds — 

LA HIRE 
Eight days ! Eight days ! Dunois, 
Since she set foot in Orleans, and look now ! 
The enemy that hemmed you in a web 
Of twenty fortresses now holds but one. 

DUNOIS 

But that one — the Tournelles ! 

LA HIRE 

And think ye, then, 
That she who turns French poodles into lions, 
And changes British mastiffs into hares. 
Will find it difficult to change yon tower 
Into a sugar-loaf ? I tell thee, man, 
She is from God, and doth whatso she will. 

JEANNE 

\^To D^Akngon, who in his armour stands reading^ 

A book, my knight ? And your good sword yet hot ? 

D'ALENgON 

The war-horse, Jeanne, still craves his manger-oats. — 

My book is a little island in the battle, 

And I am moored alongside in this lull 

To barter with strange natives — deeds, for dreams 

Of deeds. 



JEANNE D'ARC 93 

JEANNE 
Is it the holy gospel ? 



D'ALENgON 
JEANNE 

Whereof, then, do you read ? 



No. 



D'ALENgON 

Of you, Madonna ! 
When you were virgin-queen of Attica, 
And all your maiden Amazons in arms 
Hailed you " Hippolyta." 

JEANNE 
[^Putting from him the book, hands him his sword with a 

friendly smile. "] 

This is your sword, 
My bonny duke ; and this dear ground is France. 
I know naught of your queens and " anticas." 

A PRIEST 
[/« the crowd.'] 
Jeanne ! Jeanne the Maid ! 

JEANNE 

Who calls me ? 

THE PRIEST 

Speak to us — 
What of the battle ? 

SEVERAL VOICES 

Tell us ! Speak to us ! 



94 JEANNE D' ARC 

JEANNE 
Good folk, you hearts of Orleans, holy fathers ! 
What would you that I tell you ? 

SEVERAL VOICES 

Prophesy ! 

JEANNE 

Ah, friends, if you would hear of bloody stars. 
Of sun-dogs, and of mare's tails in the dawn, 
Go to your gossips and your weather-wives ; 
'Tis ours to fight and God's to prophesy. 
Yet what our Lord hath spoken by His Saints 
To me, I speak to you again : be glad, 
For not in vain, good men, have you stood strong 
And shared your loaves of famine, crumb by crumb, 
To man your walls against our wicked foe ; 
And not in vain, mothers of Orleans, you 
Have rocked your cradles by the cannon's side 
To bring your sons and husbands ease of sleep ; 
For you have kept this city for your Lord, 
Which is the King of Heaven, and He hath come 
To recompense you now. Therefore, return 
Within your gates again, and when you hear, 
Thrice blown, upon this horn, God's warning blast, 
Then ring your bells for France and victory. 

\To her page ^ 
Louis, the horn ! 

[Louis DE CoNTES blows the horn once."] 

So shall you know His sign. 

\The people depart with gestures of benediction and hope 7^ 



JEANNE D' ARC 95 

D'ALENgON 
\_Standing with La Hbe, near Jeanne. '\ 
A child ! and her clear eyes, upturned to Heaven, 
Shall influence the stars of all the ages. 

[ Clutching his companion's arm.'] 
La Hire ! We are living now, can watch, can serve her! 

LA HIRE 

Aye, folk that live in other times are damned. 
[^An altar bell sounds.] 

PIGACHON 
\_To Jeanne 7\ 
The Vespers, Angelique. 

JEANNE 

Soldiers, the Mass ! 
And let all you that have confessed yourselves 
This day, kneel down, and let the rest depart 
Until confession. 

\_All kneel, save some few, who depart, abashed. Among 
these is D' Alengon, whom Jeanne stays wistfully.] 

Yoii, my duke ? 

D'ALENgON 

I am 

A tardy Christian, Jeanne. 

JEANNE 

I pray you kneel 
Beside me. My good Pasquerel will hear you. 
[^VAlefi^on kneels beside Jeafine and Pasquerel; Pigachon 
ajnofig the friars is about to conduct the service at the 



96 JEANNE D'ARC 

altar, when De Metz's voice is heard calling (off right), 
and he enters, followed immediately by an English Her- 
ald, who, bearing himself defiant, holds in his hand a 
parchment^ 

DE METZ 
Jeanne ! — Maid of God ! 

THE ENGLISH HERALD 

Where is the whore of France ? 
\_The kneeling soldiers start up in turbulence^ 

SOLDIERS 

La Mart ! La Mort ! 

JEANNE 
\_Keeping them back."] 

Peace ! Let the herald speak ; 
His privilege is sacred. (To U Alengori) Stop them. 

HERALD 

Where 
Is she who calls herself the Maid of God ? 

JEANNE 

I am the Maid. 

HERALD 
[Speaking, but at times referring with his eyes to the parch- 
ment^ 

Thus saith my Lord, the King 
Of England, by his servant Suffolk, Captain 
Before the walls of Orleans : Whore of France — 

D'ALENgON 

Death ! — 



JEANNE D' ARC 97 

JEANNE 
\^Clhigs to him.'\ 
Stay ! He speaks not for himself, but Suffolk ; 
His cloth is holy. 

D'ALENgON ' 

[Bitterly.'] 
Holy! 

HERALD 

Courtesan 
Of him who shames the blood of Charlemagne, 
Consort of Satan, which hast ta'en the limbs 
And outward seeming of a peasant wench 
To execute thy damned sorceries 
On England's sons, to please thy paramour — 

JEANNE 
[To the soldiers, who grow more clamorous^ 
Yet patience, gart^ons ! 

HERALD 

Thou unvirgin thing. 
Which art vaingloried in the garb of man ; 
Thou impudent, thou subtle, thou unclean — 

JEANNE 

[Choking back the tears ^ 
No, no ! Thou hast forgot what thou shouldst say ! 

HERALD 

Thus fling we back thy poison'd script unread. 
And therewith this defiance : Work thy worst. 
And with the hand of strange paralysis 

H 



98 JEANNE D' ARC 

Strike numb with fear our noble English host ; 
Yet shall we still resist thee with our souls, 
And in the day when Christ shall let thee fall 
Within our power, then shalt thou make amends 
In fire for all thy witchcraft, and in fire 
Shall thy unhallow'd spirit return to hell. 

D'ALENgON 
Hold, gentlemen ! Wait yet if he have done 
This " holy privilege " of infamy. 

HERALD 

Sir, I am done. 

\_D^Ale7iqon, taking the little pennon of the Annunciation 
from a friar, hands it to the Iferald.~\ 

D'ALENgON 
Take, then, this back with you 
In token who it is whom you profane. 
Lock it within your fortress' strongest tower, 
And tell your masters that a simple maid 
Of France shall fetch it home, this night, to Orleans. 

\_Exit Herald with pennon. The soldiers mutter applause 

and execrations .~\ 

JEANNE 
\_Hiding her face, turns to D^ Alengon.'] 
What have I done that they should name me so } 

LA HIRE 

Par men baton ! We'll answer them in blood. 

DUNOIS 

Your places, ofl^icers ! 



I 



JEANNE D'ARC 99 

JEANNE 
\Starts to Pigacho?i and the soldiersj] 

The psalm ! Your psalm ! 

\Pigachon a?id the friars raise the chafit of the hymn of 
Charlemagne. This is immediately taken up by all the 
soldiers J who, u?ider its i7ijluence, pass out in solemn en- 
thusiasm ^ led by D'^Alenqon and Jeanne, the latter carry- 
ing ifi her hand the bamieret with the Crucifixion^ 

ALL 

Ve7ti creator spirittis^ 
Mentes tiwriim visita^ 
Iviple siiperna gratia 
Qhcb tic creasti pectora. 

[There now remain behind only Pasquerel and the Franciscan 
fria?'s, grouped ai-ound Jeanne's staiidard of the fleur- 
de-lis. These continue the chant in a low tone, as the 
voices of the soldiers grow fainter in the distance.'] 

FRIARS 
Qii i pa raclittis diceris 
Domi^n Dei altissimi 
Fans viviiSy ignis, caritas 
Et spiritalis tinctio. 

Hostem repellas lojigiics 
Pacefuque dones protinnSy 
Ductore sic te prcevio 
Vitemiis omne ftoxiitm. 

[During the last verses Pasquei-el, having examined the 
banyier critically, fetches a copper box, opens it, lays out 
some sewing and painting materials, lowers the banner, 

LOFC. 



lOO JEANNE D'ARC 

and bends over it solicitously. With the last words of 
the chanty a seretie quiet falls upon the knoll, save whe7t, 
from time to time, co7itrasting sounds of the distant 
battle interrupt, or fill the pauses of the conversation 
between Pasquerel and Figachon.'] 

PASQUEKJEL 
Reach me my palette yonder, Pigachon. 
Our Lord hath something scathed his brow and lip 
I' the last melee, and one of his white lilies 
Is smirched with river-slime. Take you my needle 
And hem this ravell'd edge, whilst I retouch 
The Saviour's robe and face. 

PIGACHON 

The crimson silk 
Or white ? 

PASQUEREL 

The white is better for the hem. 
Now for our Lord, what say you ? — to the lip 
A touch of Garence rose? I much prefer 
Myself, for blush and richness of the blood, 
A Garence rose doree to cinnabar ; 
Yet thereof Master Fra Angelico 
Of Florence might be critical. 

PIGACHON 
\_Threading his needle^ 

May be. 
PASQUEREL 

Well, masters think not two alike. 

\_Giving a touch. ^ 

Voila ! 



JEANNE WARC lOI 

[Silence, and the distant battle.'\ 

Saw you the mauve and pink geraniums 
In Brother Michel's hot-bed ? 

PIGACHON 

Wonderful ! 

PASQUEREL 

He waters them at prime and curfew. 

PIGACHON 

Ha! 
\_Silence again; the two friars woi'k on.'] 

PASQUEREL 

[Sudden /y.] 
I have it, Pigachon ! It comes to me ! 
To touch this lily's petal-tips with rose 
In token that it bleeds. 

PIGACHON 

Why does it bleed ? 

PASQUEREL 
But thou art mule-brain'd, Pigachon. Know, then. 
It bleeds for sorrow of its little sisters. 
The fleur-de-lis of France, because they lie 
Bleeding and trampled by the fiends of England. 

PIGACHON 

Ah! 

PASQUEREL 

Yet perchance the Maid might disapprove. 
PIGACHON 

May be. 



102 JEANNE D' ARC 

PASQUEREL 

\Sighs:\ 

Well, well ; I will not make it bleed. 

{^Enter^ amid louder cries from the battle^ Louis de Conies 

with two men, fettered. ~\ 

LOUIS 
Your name ? 

THE FIRST MAN 

John Gris, Knight to the King of England. 

LOUIS 
Yours } 

THE OTHER 

Adam Goodspeed, yeoman. 

LOUIS 

John Gris, Knight, 

And Adam Goodspeed, yeoman, you are bound 

As prisoners to Louis, called De Contes, 

Page to God's maiden Jeanne, called La Pucelle. 

GRIS 

Sith God hath dropped us in the Devil's clutch, 
His will be done. 

GOODSPEED 

Amen. 

PASQUEREL 
\_Springing up from his paints, stares off scene (right), 

appalled^ 

O dolorosa! 
\_Enter D^Alengon, supporting Jeanne, and followed by La 
Hire and a group of soldiers. ~\ 



i 



JEANNE D' ARC I03 

D'ALENgON 
Go back, La Hire : let not this thing be known. 
[^Exeunt La Hire and soldiers.~\ 

JEANNE 

Where is my standard ? Rest me here. 

D'ALENgON 

The gates 
Are but a little farther. 

JEANNE 

In God's name 
I will not leave the field. — My standard ! 
\_She sinks down beside it^ 



D'ALENgON 
\_To Louis. ~\ 



Run! 



Fetch from the town a litter. 

\_To Fasquerel.'] 

Have you oil } 
Prepare a heated compress for the wound ; 
She is stricken and may die. 

[^Louis, after fastening his prisoners to a log {left), departs 

with a friar. Pasqiierel^ after lighti?ig a charcoal 

brazier, begins with D'Alen^on's help to tear and fold a 

bandage 7\ 

JEANNE 

\Faintly.'\ 

Good Pigachon ! 

PIGACHON 
You called me, Angelique ? 



104 JEANNE D' ARC 



JEANNE 

Go to my men 
And tell them I am well. 

PIGACHON 
\_Dubious^ 

A lie ? 

JEANNE 

A little, 
A white lie : God will make of it a star 
To shine on Orleans when she is delivered. 

PIGACHON 

I go. 

\^Exit right. '\ 

PASQUEREL 
[Looking after him.'\ 

Would / might tell a lie for her ! 

JEANNE 

No, dear my bonny duke, you shall not touch ; 
I'll pluck it out myself. 

D'ALENgON 

Thou must not, Jeanne ; 
The barb hath sunken deep ; thou art but a girl. 

JEANNE 
I am a soldier. — Think you it will bleed } 
Ah, Heaven, if it should bleed ! 

D'ALENgON 
\As Jeanne^ turning away ^ clutches at her side. '\ 

What dost thou } 



JEANNE D' ARC 10$ 

JEANNE 

See, 
There is the arrow. I will keep my eyes 

A Httle shut — 

D'ALENgON 

She's dying, Pasquerel ; 
She's torn the arrow forth with her own hand. 
Help me to bear her to the city gate. 

PASQUEREL 
She said beside her standard. 

D'ALENgON 

But, thou sot 
Of superstition, she is dying. Are 
Her wishes dearer to thee than her life ? 

PASQUEREL 

She is from God. 

D'ALENgON 
O idiotic phrase! 
We soldiers babble it like paraquets, 
And let a child — this brave and dreamy girl — 
Die in the sacrifice for us — for us ! 
Jeanne, thou must live — Jeanne ! Though all France 

shall find 
Perdition, tJioii must live ! 



She lives for France. 



PASQUEREL 

Unholy words ! 



D'ALENgON 
\_Eagerly, as Jeanne lifts her head.'\ 

She lives ; it is enough ! 



I06 JEANNE D'ARC 

JEANNE 

[Faintly to D^Alengon^ 
Good neighbour, say to him I had to come. 

D'ALENgON 
To whom ? 

JEANNE 

My father. You will tell him ? 

D'ALENgON 

Truly. 

JEANNE 

You know, we have two fathers ; one's in heaven. 
We must obey the greater. — Was he angry } 

D'ALENCON 

I think he was not angry. 

JEANNE 

That is strange ; 
His scowl is terrible, and yet he loves us : 
My brother Pierre and me the most, I think. 
What did he do the day I went away } 

D'ALENgON 

Dost thou not know me, Jeanne } 

JEANNE 

I know thee well. 
Thou art the face that comes to my closed eyes, 
And in the darkness there I speak to it. — 
I knew my mother she would understand, 
For often I told her how my Voices said 
That I must crown the King, and she would smile. 
But always Papa Jacques he scowled. 



JEANNE D'ARC 10/ 

D'ALENgON 

Now gently ; 
Rest back upon my arm ; this is thy friend 
D'Alengon. — So! 

[Pasquerel and D' Alen^on put upon her the compress^ 

JEANNE 
My mother hurts me here. 
They said it was an arrow in my side, 
But I knew well it was the homesickness, 
And so I plucked it out, and gave 't to him 
My Lord, because it had no business there. 

D'ALENgON 

To me you gave it, Jeanne, not to your Lord. 

JEANNE 

And are you not His knight whom God hath sent 

To be my shield in battle } — Verily 

I leaned upon your shoulder at Chinon 

When I was weary and the world grew dim. — 

Thou art D'Alengon and my bonny duke. 

\_Re'enter (left) Louis and the friar with a litter. '\ 

D'ALENgON 
I am your servant, and must bear you now 
Back to the town. 

DISTANT CRIES 

La Puce lie! Au secours ! 

JEANNE 

You hear ! I cannot go. They call for me. 
Fetch me my horse. 



I08 JEANNE D'ARC 

D'ALENgON 
Madonna, you may die. 

JEANNE 

I may not die before I have performed 

My Lord's commandment ; they have told me so. 

D'ALENgON 

Who told ? 

JEANNE 

My Voices. 

D'ALENgON 

Jeanne, for love of France 
And truth and thy dear soul, lose not thy life 
For vanities and whisperings of the air. 

JEANNE 

Know you whereof you speak 1 

D'ALENgON 

I speak of nothing, 
For they are naught. 

JEANNE 

My holy counsel — naught ! 

D'ALENgON 

Do not believe them, Jeanne. They are delusions. 
Forgive me ! I must speak the truth to save 
Thy Ufe. 

JEANNE 

If this were true, O better death ! 
But listen ! 

\_The Franciscans about the altai' are beginning to 7nove it 
from the knoll to the level ground {on the left).'] 



JEANNE D'ARC IO9 

D'ALENgON 
[Persuadingly, dendi?ig near her.] 

Come now with me. Be a good girl. 

JEANNE 

Listen, my duke. 

D'ALENgON 

'Tis but a friar, bearing 
The altar bell. 

A VOICE 
[Speaks with the bell, which sounds momentarily as the friar 

moves it.] 

Daughter of God, be strong. 

JEANNE 
[Gazing before her into PasquereV s lighted brazier^ 

It is her voice ; it is St. Catherine. 

See in the little flames how small she shines 

And flutters like a moth mid peonies. 

But holy saints fear not to singe their wings 

In fire. You see, she is not frightened. 

PASQUEREL 
[Sinks, murmuring, to his knees.] 

Pater, 
Sanctum sit nomen tuum. 

GOODSPEED 
[To Gris.] 

Turn thine eyes 
Away ! The witch beginneth her hell charms. 

JEANNE 
[Rising to her feet.] 
Thou dear St. Catherine, I will be strong ! 



1 1 JEANNE D'ARC 

PASQUEREL 
\_To nAlengon:\ 
And will you now believe ? 

D'ALENgON 

This is a strength 
Unnatural, a fever from the wound. 
Jeanne — 

JEANNE 

Look, D'Alengon, look, they leave the bridge ! 
Our men have turned. Alas ! They are beaten back. 
\Enter La Hire, beside himself.^ 

LA HIRE 
\_Raising both arms to heaven^ 

Lord God, I pray Thee, do Thou for La Hire 
What he would do for Thee, if he were God, 
And Thou, God, wert La Hire ! 

D'ALENgON 

What news, and quickly ! 

LA HIRE 
News for the rats and skunks of Europe ! News 
For dancing apes and Master Rigadoons ! 
Dunois himself hath bade our men retreat, 
And me. La Hire, to tell it ! 

CRIES 
[Outside (right').'] 

To the gates ! 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 1 1 

JEANNE 
\Looking toward the battle?^ 
Dunois, Dunois, thou hast offended me. 

CRIES 

[ Outside^ 
The gates ! 

D'ALENgON 

Our men — they come. — Jeanne, you will fall. 
Stay ! — I will rally them. 

JEANNE 

[ Climbing faintly the knoll, as Z>^Alen^on comes to her 

support^ 

Still be my shield. 

\Enter Dunois and the Fre7ich soldiery^ in rout.'] 

CRIES 

The gates of Orleans ! 

JEANNE 

[From the knoll, speaking from D''Alenqon^s arms, which 

uphold her, stays the rout.] 

Halt! 

CRIES 

The Maid ! The Maid ! 

JEANNE 
Who hath commanded you this thing .? 

DUNOIS 

Jeanne d'Arc, 
The English fortress is impregnable. 



1 1 2 JEANNE D 'ARC 

JEANNE 

Dunois, heaven's fortress is impregnable 
By souls of gentlemen who turn their backs. 

DUNOIS 
You fell ; we saw how you were wounded, Maid. 

JEANNE 

And ye beheld not One who did not fall : 
Shame, captains of France ! Have ye not heard 
** Better a dog's head than a lion's tail " ? 
Back to the bridge and show your teeth again ! 
Back to the bridge and show to God your eyes ! 

SOLDIERS 

Back to the bridge ! 

JEANNE 

My banner, dear my duke ! 
Come, we will go together, hand in hand. — 
Children of France, behold your fleur-de-lis ! 
Thou, Louis, stay, and when thou shalt have seen 
This banner touch the English walls — thy horn ! 
Blow it at Orleans' gate : the siege is raised ! 
Follow your lilies now, brave boys of France ! 
Your lilies ! Christ the Lord doth captain you. 
Ten thousand of his host surround us. See ! 
The sun goes down through archings of their wings, 
The river burns and eddies with their swords. 
Work, work, and God will work ! Follow the lilies 
And shoot your arrows straight. — Jhesiis-Maria ! 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 1 3 

SOLDIERS 

Jhesiis- Maria ! — St. Detiis ! La France ! 

\_Exeunt all but Louis de Contes, in the foreground (right), 
and the two English prisoners tied, on the left, below the 
knoll. The Franciscans have been led away by Pas- 
querel toward the town, carrying with them the altar ^ 

GRIS 
I looked long in her face. Gentle it seemed 
And beautiful. 

GOODSPEED 
So did the serpent's seem 
In Adam's garden. Oh, the fiend is wise, 
And in a witch's face most damned fair. 

GRIS 
Indeed, the spell of her is strange upon me. 

\To Louis ^ 
Where is her banner now } 

LOUIS 

I cannot see ; 
The low sun hurts my eyes ; which way I look 
It stares me like a monstrous waning moon 
Winked on the blood-red clouds of rolling dust. 

GOODSPEED 

More hke it be the many-headed face 
Of Satan mocking us. 



The Maid ! The Maid ! 



LOUIS 

The lilies, there ! 



1 14 JEANNE D 'ARC 

GRIS 
What ! do we drive her back ? 

LOUIS 

She drives you from the bridge. Her armour! — 

Now — 
Oh, she is blown about and fluttered o'er 
By clouds of little golden butterflies, 
And where she thrusts her lilied banner through, 
She glitters double — in the air and river. 

GOODSPEED 

Her fiends are blown up from the underworld 
To succour her. 

GRIS 
\_Kneeling.'\ 
This spell upon me ! 

LOUIS 

Ah! 
They hurl you from the drawbridge. Christ ! You 

drown. 
Yonder her banner and the fleur-de-lis ! 
The Maid hath touched the walls. Vive la France ! 

[Rushing up the knoll, Louis turns toward Orleans and 
winds his horn three times. In an instant, from the 
left, a clamour of horns and shouts and bells reply. 
Away, on the right, the iron din of the battle is still 
heard. Behind the knolVs outline burns the bright red 
of sunset ; against that, raising his horn, stands out 
the tense, lithe silhouette of the little page.'\ 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 1 5 



ACT IV 

Scene I : Before the walls of Troyes. July 5, 
1429. Night. 

On the left {up scene) ^ partly surrounded by cypress trees ^ 
the entrance of a pavilion-like tent {extending off scene, 
left) is closed by a mediceval tapestry. At centre^ beneath 
the trees, stand two beriches of wood, otie higher than 
the other. On the right, a stack of arms, and beJmid 
that vague outlines of a camp. Throughout the scene's 
action, from time to time, officers and guards of the 
French army pass by, or are visible in their battle-gear, 
as portions of the scene. After the rising of the moo7i, 
the walls and towers of the town are dimly visible in 
the background. 

Enter J right, La Tremouille and Cauchon, the latter in the 
garb of a layman. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
That is her tent ; those reddish stars, that move, 
Are sentries on the city ramparts. Troyes 
Still shuts its gates against the Maid, the last 
To stand between Charles and his crown at Rheims. 

CAUCHON 
He will be crowned ? 

LA TREMOUILLE 

We hope yet to prevent. 
You heard me speak of Brother Richard, here, 



1 16 JEANNE D'ARC 

Staying in Troyes. He is a preaching friar, 

A kind of mendicant Demosthenes 

Who holds the keys of power between his teeth, 

And locks or opes the city with his tongue. 

To-night he is coming to interview the Maid 

To ascertain whether she be from God. 

On that the town's surrender will depend. 

CAUCHON 
So then — ? 

LA TREMOUILLE 

I think I have forestalled the Maid. 
A certain Catherine de la Rochelle — 
But never mind. Our point is this : that you 
Stand ready, when I will, to yield Jeanne d'Arc 
Into the English hands, to burn for witchcraft. 

CAUCHON 

To burn by course of law. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\Smiling^ 

By law, of course ! 
\Enter at back De Chartres, followed by Flaw.] 

DE CHARTRES 
\_Investigating with a torch. '\ 
Your Grace "i 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_To Cauchon^ 

Ah, 'tis our man. 

\_To De Chartres l\ 

You've brought him } 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 1 7 



There. 



DE CHARTRES 
\_Revealing Fiavy.~\ 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Here is our honest bishop from Beauvais, 
Pierre Cauchon. 

CAUCHON 
[Indicating his disguise^ 
Ex officio, my lords ! 

DE CHARTRES 

Your secret shall be safe with us. — This, sirs, 
Is Marshal Flavy. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\To Flavy ^ 
From Compiegne ? 

FLAVY 

I am 
Commander at Compiegne. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\_To De Chartres.'] 

He knows the plan } 

FLAW 

I am to ask the help immediate 

Of Jeanne the Maid against the enemy 

That threaten my city. 

DE CHARTRES 

I explained to him 
How this good friend {indicates Cauchon) will see to 

it that the English 
Shall know the proper moment to attack 
And lure the Maid to fight outside the walls. 



1 1 8 JEANNE D 'ARC 

FLAW 
A few French troopers will pass out with her, 
And then — I am to pull the drawbridge up. 

CAUCHON 

She shall be treated by us justly, sirs, 
By process of the law for heretics. 

DE CHARTRES 

She is coming : I will go. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

What ! not afraid 
To catch a second ague } 

DE CHARTRES 

In her presence 
All policy deserts me, I grow blind ; 
Once was enough. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
Wait ; we will go along 
With you and fetch the King and Brother Richard. 
\_Exeunt La Tremouille, De Chartres^ Cauchoriy and Flavy 

{right). 
Enter, at left {down scene) ^Jeanne, She is closely followed 
by a group of various persons, — wojnen, artisans, gentle- 
folk, — sofne of whom, drawing near, touch her cloak, 
try to kiss her hands?[ 

SEVERAL VOICES 

Holy ! holy ! Hear us. Maid of God ! 

JEANNE 

Good souls, what would ye ask of Jeanne the Maid } ^ 



JEANNE D'ARC 1 1 9 

A WOMAN 
[Holding out a swaddled bundle?^ 

My babe is dead. Her little body's cold. 
Oh, resurrect her ! 

JEANNE 
[Tenderly^ 
Was thy child baptized ? 

THE WOMAN 

Yes, Angelique. 

JEANNE 

Then do not cry for her, 
For she is playing now at Mary's knee. 

ANOTHER WOMAN 

Mine's newly born. Be godmother to him, 
That he may prosper. 

JEANNE 

Let his name be Charles. 

A COURTIER 
\_Reaching out his palm.'] 
My fortune. Maid ! When shall my luck change ? 

JEANNE 

If 

Your luck be lame, rub it with elbow-grease. 

A KNIGHT 

Jeanne d'Arc, my master sendeth me — 

JEANNE 

Who is 

Your master .<* 



120 JEANNE D'ARC 

THE KNIGHT 

'Tis a nobleman of France, 
And prays you tell him which of the two popes 
Of Rome or Avignon he should obey. 

JEANNE 

Tell him with God there is no politics ; 

Let him serve God. — Why do you touch your rings 

To mine, good people } 

AN ARTISAN 

To be sanctified. 

JEANNE 

Oh, do not touch my hands. But if ye seek 
Blessing, go home and kiss the old tired hands 
Of your good mothers that have toiled for you ; 
Come not to me ; good night, friends, and adieu ! 
\The people depart ; Jeanne stands with hands clasped. 

Enter from the tent Louis de Contes; seeing her thus^ 

he kneels before her, worshipful.'] 
What shall I do .-* — Ah, Monseigneur in heaven, 
Protect me from their prayers ! Let not this folk 
Commit idolatry because of me, 
Nor touch this body as a saintly thing. 
Guard me, you dear and gracious Voices ! — Still 
Why do I think on what my duke he said : 
" Do not believe them, Jeanne ! They are delusions." 

\_Shuddering.'] 
Dear God, let me forget, for I am tired ; 
Let Thy work be fulfilled and take me home. 
\_Seeing Louis on his knees, she drops impetuously beside him.'\ 
No, no ! Not thou, my Louis ! 



JEANNE D'ARC 121 

LOUIS 

Angelique, 
Why do you weep ? 

\_Enter D''Alengon through the cypresses behind them.'\ 

JEANNE 
The night — how great it is ! 
And we — how little and how weak we are! 
That star is shining down on Domremy 
Between the pear-tree boughs. I had not dreamed 
How that the world would be so great and wide. 

LOUIS 

They say it reacheth even beyond Rome, 
Though I was never there. 

JEANNE 

It matters not ; 
It lieth all within Our Lady's arms. — 
Tell me, my Louis, hast thou never played 
At knucklebone ? 

LOUIS 

Yozc will not play with me ! 



And may I not .'' 



With pebbles ; here are some. 

LOUIS 



JEANNE 
LOUIS 

But you — 

JEANNE 

Sometimes we play 



But you ! From you 



122 JEANNE D'ARC 

The English fled at Orleans, and to you 

The angels speak and the bright saints come down ! 

JEANNE 
[Rising, drops the pebbles slowly froin her hand.~\ 

It seemed but yesterday : in dear Lorraine 
There was a lass with a red petticoat, 
And she was called *' Jeannette." 

D'ALENCON 
[ Cofning forward, impetuous. ~\ 

Madonna ! 

JEANNE 
\_Starts, then goes to hi7?i.'\ 

Thou! 
\_Turning back.'] 

Ah, me ! I saw it. Why did you stand there ? 

D'ALENgON 

Where, then ? 

JEANNE 

Behind you ! Over my left shoulder 
I saw it rising, pale. 

D'ALENgON 
[ Glancing off right.'] 
The moon ! 

JEANNE 

Tis full. 
What bad news have you brought me .'' 

D'ALENgON 

I.? 

JEANNE 

The King ! 
What of the King } 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 23 

D'ALENgON 

The King is well. 

JEANNE 

But thou ? 
Thou art in pain, my duke. 

D'ALENgON 
\_Looking at her."] 

It is not pain, 

JEANNE 
[^To Louis.'] 
Go in and sleep. When I have need of thee, 
I'll call. 

LOUIS 

I will nap lightly, Angelique. 
\_Exit into tent.] 

JEANNE 

Now, now, my good knight, speak out plain : what 

news ? 
I cannot bear the sadness in your eyes. 

D'ALENgON 
There is a sadness which belies its name 
And grows immeasurably dear to joy. 
The King — 

JEANNE 

Ah! 

D'ALENgON 

He is coming here to-night 
To speak with you. 



1 24 JEANNE D 'ARC 

JEANNE 
More counsels ? In God's name, 
Let us not hold so long and many parleys 
But march short-cut to Rheims. 

D'ALENgON 

This town of Troyes 
Holds for the Enghsh still. 

JEANNE 

It will surrender. 

D'ALENgON 

We have no engines for the siege. 

JEANNE 

\I have sent 
For Brother Richard. He will open the gates 
To-morrow ; the day after, we shall march 
Straight on to Rheims. 

D'ALENgON 

Charles will not march to Rheims. 

JEANNE 

What shall prevent t 

D'ALENgON 

A vision from the Lord. 

JEANNE 

D' Alengon ! hath the King beheld a vision ? 

D'ALENgON 

I did not say the King. 



JEANNE D 'ARC 12$ 

JEANNE 

Who, then ? 



D'ALENgON 



A woman. 



JEANNE 

O bonny duke, why art thou strange with me ? 
Be not Uke all the rest, careful and slow. 
Speak to me bold and plain. 

D'ALENgON 

Forgive me, Jeanne, 
My soul, too, is infected with this air 
And breathes of weakness, innuendo, doubt ; 
But now, like thee, I will be bold and brief. 
The woman Catherine de La Rochelle 
Hath duped the Dauphin to believe in her 
That she hath seen a vision out of heaven, 
Declaring thee and all thy Voices false. 

JEANNE 
\_Scornfuny.'] 

Ha, by St. John ! And doth she think to fool 
My King with fi, foh, funi f 

D'ALENgON 

The King believes. 

JEANNE 
\_Ardently.'] 
Of course my King believes. 



1 26 JEANNE D 'ARC 

D'ALENgON 
\_Slowly.'] 

In Catherine. 
\_A pause : from off right come distant sounds of laughter , 
and a flickering glo'W.~\ 

THE VOICE OF CHARLES 

Walk near us in the torch light. 

D'ALENgON 

They are coming. 
Madonna, do not let that scornful fire 
Die from your face. For such apostasy 
There's a divine contempt which makes us strong 
To suffer and retaliate. Take heart ! 
What matters it though this half -minded prince 
Goes begging for his crown. — Dost thou not hear me } 

JEANNE 

To build and build and build on running sands — 
How terrible it must be to be God ! 

[Reaching to D'^Alengon her two hands. "] 
Think you I shall be strong enough, my duke } 

D'ALENgON 

Oh, I will give more than the world can take, 
And fill the gap of this ingratitude 
With burning recompense. Lean thou henceforth 
On me — on me — 

THE VOICE OF CHARLES 
[Amid murmured conversation?^ 
Enchantress ! 



JEANNE D'ARC 127 

JEANNE 

'Tis my King. 
Say I will welcome him within my tent — 
And Catherine. This shall be overcome. 

D'ALENgON 

But not alone ! Let me stand with thee, Jeanne. 

JEANNE 

Always you are with me. When I close my eyes, 
You lean against a pillar of the dark 
And pore upon a book. You do not speak, 
And yet I know whom you are reading of — 
A certain queen — her name is hard to learn. 

D'ALENgON 

Hippolyta ! 

JEANNE 

A maiden-queen, you said. 

D'ALENgON 

In Attica. 

JEANNE 

I know not where ; good night ! 
Come not ; this good fight will I make alone. 

\_With a quick pressure of D'^Alen^orCs ha7id, exit Jeanne 

into her tent.^ 

D'ALENgON 
"Always you are with me." — Did she say those 

words, 
Or am I dizzy with this incense of her ? 
" Say I will welcome him with Catherine." 



128 JEANNE D' ARC 

What will she do ? Well, I can but obey. 
" Always you are with me ! " Always, always ! Here — 
On the air, this moonlight, everywhere — her face 
Encounters mine in glory. 

[Enter Charles and Catherine at/ended by torch-bearers 
and followed by La Tremouille, Brother Richard, and 
Flavy.'X ] 

r 

'^ CHARLES 

\To Catherine, holdi?ig her hafid and gazing at her.^ 

Even your shadow 
Steals splendour from the moonlight — less a shadow 
Than some bright spirit's reflection. 

[He kisses her fingers?^ 

D'ALENgON 

God ! Can that 
Which leads him captive be akin to this 
Which hallows me with beauty } 

CATHERINE 

Charles is kind 
To flatter his old comrade of Chinon. 

CHARLES 
Chinon ! how our life-star hath changed since then ! 
Aye, Dagobert is dead, and poor King Patch 
Is now a prince of Europe, thanks to — thanks 
To God's aid and Saint Charlemagne, and now 
Henceforth to you, sweet seeress. Tell me, Kate, 
Of this white lady in the cloth-of-gold 
That comes to you : when did you see her last } 



JEANNE D' ARC 1 29 

CATHERINE 
To-night : her limbs were lovely as first snow, 
And with her hand she touched me and said, "■ Rise, 
And seek your King, and go forth in the land, 
And let the royal trumpeters ride first 
And blow nine blasts before you in each town, 
And lo ! all buried and concealed gold 
In France shall straight be gathered to your feet 
In piles of glory. Give all to your King, 
But tell him to beware the town of Rheims, 
For if he enters there, my power is spent. 

fcArTREMOUiLLE 
Note that, your Majesty : the town of Rheims ! 
The vision warns you to turn back from Rheims. 

CHARLES 

We'll make this known to Jeanne and change our plans 

Accordingly. 

\To D^Alen^on.'] 

She's here? 

D'ALENgON 

There, in her tent, 
And she hath bade me say — 

CHARLES 

What? 
D'ALENgON 

\_Bareiy restraining his emotion.'] 

Nothing, sire. 

[^Exit swiftly (right).'] 

K 



130 JEANNE D'ARC 

CHARLES 
[Looking after UAlen^on in surprise, turns to Catherine 

and the others?^ 

We will go in ; you also, gentlemen. 

\As he is about to enter the tent, the tapestry is opened from 
within by Jeanne, who stands in the entrance.l^ 

JEANNE 
My Dauphin and the Lady Catherine 
Are welcome. 

CHARLES 
[Coldly.'] 
'Tis some time, Maid, since we met, 
And there are solemn matters to impart. 
Come, Catherine. 

[Exit Charles into the tent.~\ 

CATHERINE 
[Aside to La Tremouille, as she follows Charles^ 

Why do you make me face her ! 

LA TREMOUILLE 
[Aside.] 
'Tis but a moment ; play the game well now. 

[Exit Catherine. La Tremouille speaks to Jeanne^ 
This is Commander Flavy of Compiegne. 

JEANNE 

I pray you enter, sir. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

This, Brother Richard 
Of Troyes. 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 3 I 

S^Brother Richard, approaching slo7v, and suspicious, makes 
constantly the sign of the cross and scatters before hi??i 
liquid from a vial.^ 

JEANNE 

What is he sprinkling ? 



LA TREMOUILLE 
JEANNE 

More boldly, sir ; I shall not fly away. 



Holy water. 



BROTHER RICHARD 

How know I yet whether thou art from God ? 

JEANNE 

Enter and learn. — Come in, Sieur La Tremouille ; 
The room is small to hold both you and me, 
But skilful driver turns in a sharp space. 

LA TREMOUILLE 
[^Pausing beside her. ] 
'Tis you or I, Jeanne. 

JEANNE 

You or God, Seigneur. 
\_Theygo in together, the tapestry closifig behind them. Enter 
{right) D^Alenqon and La Hire^ 

D'ALENgON 
'Tis shame enough, La Hire, immortal shame, 
That she who hath for us her toil, her visions 
Given in service, should be snared about 
By webs of this arch-spider. La Tremouille, 
To struggle and to suffer ; yet 'tis worst 
That he — that he, whom from a mockery 



132 JEANNE D'ARC 

She hath made emperor, could so relapse 
As to install this heinous substitute, 
Rochelle. 

LA HIRE 

Not Catherine ? Kate of Chinon ! 

D'ALENCON 
S^Bitterly^^ 

She, too, hath visions — in Tremouille's brain — 
Impugning those of Jeanne ; and Charles, her dupe, 
Treats her with amorous credulity, 
Half gallant and half gudgeon. 

LA HIRE 

This would make 
The little flowers of Saint Francis swear. 

D'ALENgON 

If they had but devised some common sham ! 

But to pry inward to her maiden soul 

And steal that delicate and fairy stuff 

The visionary fabric of a child, 

Whose dreams of saint and seraphim take on 

The sureness of reality — to make 

Of that, I say, a tawdry counterfeit 

To ordain the humbug of a courtesan — 

No, it is monstrous ! ' 

LA HIRE 

Peste ! less metaphysic, 
And say what's to be done. Where is she .-* 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 3 3 

D'ALENgON 

There ; 
The King and Catherine are with her. 

LA HIRE 

Well, 
Trust her to make a charlatan turn feather. 

D'ALENCON 

There is the pity of it ! How may she, 
Unconscious child, disprove in Catherine 
The nature of illusions which her own 
Imagination shares ? — God spare her that ! 
For there's no pang, 'mongst all our mortal hurts. 
Sharp as the vivisection of a dream. 

LA HIRE 

I love thee, friend D'Alengon, but thy mouth 

Is stuffed too full of parchment. Pray, disgorge ; 

What means all this ? 

D'ALENCON 
No matter. {Broodingly) Once at Orleans 
I spake harsh truth to her myself. God knows 
I said it but to save her. 

LA HIRE 

By my stick. 
What shall we do ? Go in there and smash pates .-* 

D'ALENgON 

That would be madness. 

LA HIRE 

What the devil, then .? 



1 34 JEANNE D 'ARC 

D'ALENgON 

This : I am strong in money and estates 

And have a certain influence with Charles 

Which I have never yet used : if he disowns 

Jeanne d'Arc, then I will offer her my hand 

In marriage. 

LA HIRE 

Thou ! thou — to the Maid of God ! 

D'ALENgON 

No, to the maid of Domremy — ** Jeannette." 

This is no time for superstitious cant ; 

I must now serve her and be practical. 

I am a duke and she is peasant-born ; 

I, as her husband, would uphold her power ; 

If she reject me — mine alone the pain. 

LA HIRE 

Dost thou not fear the wrath of God for this } 

D'ALENgON 

There is no God for me but .human love, 
Nor vision save the true vouch of mine eyes, 
And human love and true vouch of mine eyes 
Compel me to this act. 

LA HIRE 

How long hast thou 
Run daft > 

D'ALENgON 

Jeanne ! Jeanne ! thou shalt not stand alone. 

LA HIRE 
\_To himself.'] 
Fala ! This comes of poesie and parchment ! 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 3 5 

\_Hastening after D^Alen^on, where he has gone toward 

Jeanne's pavilion.'\ 
Look ye, my duke, walk this way to my tent 
And reassure me that thou be not mad. 

D'ALENgON 

Indeed, for love of her, perhaps I am. 

\_Exeunt at back, La Hire drawing VAlen^on away from 
the tent, f?'o?n which — after a brief pause — Charles 
bursts forth, followed by Catherine and soon afterward 
by La Tremozcille, who, standing at the entrance of the 
tent watching them, twists the tapestry with his fingers^ 

CATHERINE 

Charles ! Charles, my King ! Forgive me. 

CHARLES 

To forgive 
Is simple : to obtain forgiveness — where 

'Mongst all my fellow-men may I now look 

To be forgiven. 

CATHERINE 

I am penitent. 

CHARLES 

Why, so am I ; yet surely as that moon 

Shall wane, so surely shall we lapse again. 

Such creatures, Kate, as you and I are changelings, 

Filched out of hell by Satan's forefinger 

And smuggled into clouts of human kind 

To mock at God the Father. 

CATHERINE 

Mine the sin ; 
I lied to you. 



136 JEANNE D^ ARC 

CHARLES 
Hush ! / lied to myself. 
Who made me King of France ? Whose vision smote 
The clutch of England's armies from my throne ? — 

\_To his torch-beare7's.~\ 

Go on ! put out those lights, and if you can 

Put out those stars ! and thou, dear Maid of God, 

Let me forget how basely I forgot. 

\_Exit with torch-bearers. La Tremouille covtes to Catherine, 
where she stands trei?idli?ig.~\ 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Have we been drugged with wine } 

[Points to the tent.~\ 

What happened there .-* 
I saw you speak to Jeanne, Jeanne look at you. 
What was it she did ? 

CATHERINE 

\ I know not what she did, 
But what she is shone through her as a lamp 
Into my wretched heart, and made me weep 
To know myself. — Pray, lead me to my tent. 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Defeat once more ; defeat ! By Hercules ! • 
For strategy to outwit the lords of Rome 
Commend me to a sheep-girl from Lorraine ! 

\_Exit with Catherine. Within the tent is heard the voice of 
Brother Richard. '\ , 11 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 37 

BROTHER RICHARD 

The city's gates shall open to the King. 

\_^Enter from the tent Louis ^ who holds aside the tapestry\ 
staggering with sleepiness. As Brother Richard passes 
out, he pauses and looks back withifi; then turns, moved, 
to Louis.~\ 

Child, thou art hallowed to be her page. 
[Exit toward the ramparts.~\ 

LOUIS 

\_Drowsily.'] 

I dreamt I was awake and marching — marching — 

[Sinking upon the near bench, he is overcome by slumber. 

Enter Jeanne\ and Flavy from the tent.'] 

JEANNE 
I promise you, Commander, I will aid 
Your brave folk in their need. Bid them take heart ! 
As soon as I have crowned my King at Rheims, 
I will go to help the good town of Compiegne. 

FLAW 

Your coming shall be rarely welcomed, Maid. 

\_Exit {right).] 

JEANNE 
All will be over soon — my King be crowned ! 
Louis, come forth ! We'll sleep under the sky ; 
The night is hot, it stifles there within — 
Louis ! 

\_Discovering hitn.] 

Ah, weary boy ! Thou art still marching 



138 JEANNE D 'ARC 

Toward Rheims. — Wait but a moment, little Louis, 
Under our lids I'll overtake thee there. 

\She lies down in her armour on the next bench and falls 

asleep in the moonlight. Enter at back, D^Alengon and 

La Hire. Seeing Jeanne, they pause, speaking together 

in low tones.^ 

LA HIRE 

Not if thy love were whiter and more chaste 
Than Abelard's for his dead Heloise — 
No, friend D' Alengon ! 

D'ALENgON 

Will you answer me ? 
A thousand common drudges, artisans, 
Peasants and townsfolk daily flock to her 
And kiss that hand in homage. — Am then I 
Less worthy } 

LA HIRE 

They have faith in her. They seek 
Salvation. 

D'ALENgON 

For themselves ! I seek it for her. 
This maid is holy by simplicity 
And not by miracle. She is a brave 
And gentle girl, no more. — How noble she sleeps ! 
By Heaven, I will keep vigil here to-night. 
I love her. Do you trust my honour ? — Leave me. 

LA HIRE 

[ Giving his hand.'] 

Good night, friend ; but beware the Lord His angels. 

[Exit-I 



JEANNE D' ARC 139 

D'ALENgON 
When did such maidenhood sleep in the moon 
Before ? Or such a soldier dream in armour ? 
The camp is silent and this summer night, 
But all the dark is sown with dragon's teeth 
That with the dawning shall spring up in steel 
To rage and stab again. — What martial seed, 
Dropt in the April lap of green Lorraine 
By angels sacking hell from Sinai's mount, 
Bourgeoned this armed girl to captain us ? 
Here sleeps in silver the strong virgin — France. 
She murmurs: What was that.-* — Dear God, my 

name ! 
** D'Alengon ! " — Jeanne! Jeanne, leave thy dreams 

ajar 
And let me through to thee — so, with a kiss. 

\As he springs to kiss her hand, he is caused to stagger back 
by a dazzling, intervening splendour, out of which there 
takes shape the winged form of St. Michael, holding his 
sword draw7i.'\ 

Thou burnest me, beloved ; I grow blind ; 

My brain is stung with fire. Where are thou snatched 

In flame away from me .-^ — Ah ! — stand not there 

Between us ! Merely would I bend to touch 

Her still hand with my lips and then begone. 

And yet are you implacable .'' — Stern Saint, 

Vision, or flaming Minister of Heaven, 

Hallucination, or Apocalypse, 

Whatso you are that, beautiful, take on 

The likeness of imagination, why — 

Why do you stand between us .<* 



140 JEANNE D'ARC 

[ With his sword St. Michael strikes D^ Alenqon7\ 

Monseigneur ! 
At last the knowledge and the sin of it, 
The sinning and the beauty ! — Lord, I go. 
For thou art bridegroom to the Maid of God, 
And she who lieth there is thy betrothed. 
And I, that dared to love, have sinned. Adieu, 
Bright sentinel ! Thine is the vigil now, 
The midnight and the Maid inviolate. 

\_Exit D'Alen^07i among the cypresses, A 77iinute now passes 
before the curtain falls. Various night sounds steal upon 
the scene ; distant torches flicker out ; and the murmurs^ 
and motions of a great ar?ny, ca7nped, are suggested to the 
audience's imagination^ while Jeanne — the virgin-cap- 
tain of that host — lies sleeping, moonlit^ in her annour^ 
guarded by the sentinel archangel, vigilant-eyed.~\ 



Scene II: A Street in Rheims. July 17, 1429. 

The street itself is hidden behind an old, half -ruined wall of 
the city, over the irregular top of which are visible the 
upper windows, balconies, and gables of the houses oppo- 
site, from which the inmates are seen watching the 
crowds beloiv, invisible to the audience. The foreg?'ound 
of the scene consists partly of the wall itself, partly of 
an embarikment {with a crooked, elevated foot-path, 
conducted by stone steps to different heights), which 
slopes upward to the waWs edge. On the left, at a 
breach in the wall, is a wide ruined gate, ad7nitting in- 
gress from the street on to the lower foreground left 



JEANNE D'ARC I4I 

where the path starts to ascend the slope of the embank- 
mejit. Seated on the wall, or peerwg over it {where 
they stand ofi the embanhnent fo7-eground), and filling 
the gateway, are varicoloured groups of persons. 
Among these {right) are Pierre Cauchon and Nicolas 
LoiSELEUR, in the dress of artisayis ; near the gateway, 
amid a group of peasants, Jacques d^Arc,Pern?i, Pierre 
d^Arc, and Mengetie. High in a seat of vantage on 
the wall, a Priest is looked up to by the people near 
by, as a presiding authority. 

The following dialogue is spoke7i — with varying intervals 
of pantomime — during partial lulls in the hubbub of 
the hidden populace in the street, and the reflex of that 
among the groups of the foregrotmd. 

As the curtain rises, there resound from the left a fanfare 
and a vast, distant shout. 

A CITIZEN 

Those trumpets, father ? 

THE PRIEST 
\^0n the wall?[ 

Now the King receives 
His crown in the cathedral, and the people 
Acclaim the Maid of God. 

PERRIN 
\To Pierre and Mengette.'] 

Why were we late ! 
They say Jeannette stands next the King himself. 

MENGETTE 
And all in armour ! 



142 JEANNE D'ARC 

PIERRE 
If she goes right by \ 
And if she never sees us ! 

JACQUES D'ARC 

Fret thee not ; 
I ha' fetched from home a clinkle in my pouch 
To catch thy sister's ear. 

PIERRE AND MENGETTE 
What is it ? 

JACQUES 

\Mysteriously^ 

Look! 
^Shows a string of little pewter sheep bells ^ 

LOISELEUR 
\To Cauchon.'] 

Your Reverence' disguise is masterly. 

CAUCHON 

Thanks, Nicolas ; and yours ! 

A WOMAN 
\_To Mengette.'] 

From Domremy ? 
Aye, that's the town the King hath freed from tax 
Because the Maid would ask no other boon. 

MENGETTE 
\A?iticipating her triumphant effect with blushes of pleasure?^ 
I am her neighbour and her brother's wife ! 



JEANNE D'ARC I43 

CAUCHON 
\To Loiseleur^ 

Yes, much at stake ! My kind friend Winchester 
Hath promised me the archbishopric of Rouen — 
When she is ashes. 

LOISELEUR 

That should not be long. 
She goes hence to help Flavy at Compiegne. 
At Compiegne there will be a witch for sale. 

CAUCHON 

Aye, Flavy knows the smell of EngHsh gold — 
[Looking from the wall.'] 

How proud her pageant rides ! The dust rolls up 
Like smoke before her. 

LOISELEUR 

Soon it shall ho, fire. 

CAUCHON 

Look where she comes ! 

LOISELEUR 
Who looketh where she goes ? 

\_The pageant has begun to enter. Above the wall are visible 
the lances and halberds of the marching soldiers^ their 
standards and the floats of the pageant. From the left, 
after the passing of several displays and devices, the 
tumult and hosannahs roar and swell to a rhythmic, 
pcean-like acclaim upon the entrance (as yet unseen by the 
audience^ of Charles and Jeanne?^ 



144 JEANNE D'ARC 

THE PEOPLE 

Noel ! Noel ! Noel ! The Maid of God ! 

\As this royal portion of the pageant passes beneath the 
central groups in the foreground^ Jacques d^ Arc at the 
gateway takes from his pouch the little pewter bells, and, 
raising, tinkles them in the uproar. As he does so, the 
throng in the breach itself are swayed inward and 
aside by a commotion from the street without, and Jeanne 
and the King appear in the gateway on horseback, their 
immediate followers — La Tremouille, De Chartres^ 
D^Alen^on, La LLire — being visible behind them7[ 

JEANNE 
[Reining her horse.~\ 

My King ! 

CHARLES 

\Halting the procession, turns solicitously to Jeanne who, 
not yet seeing Jacques d'Arc and his bells, is listening 
with a bewildered look of pleasure^ 

What is it, Maid ? 

JEANNE 

The sheep ! 

JACQUES D'ARC 
[Breaking Jrom the crowd and going to her."] 

Jeannette ! 

JEANNE 

Ah ! — Papa Jacques ! 

PIERRE, MENGETTE, AND PERRIN 

Jeannette! Jeannette! 



JEANNE D'ARC I45 

JACQUES 
\^At her horse* s stde.'\ 

My lass! 

JEANNE 
[Kissing his hands where he raises them to her.~\ 
And art not angry with me ? 

JACQUES 

God is good. 
Thou hast served Him long, lass. Come now home 
with me ! 

CHARLES 

This is thy father } 

JEANNE 

May I go with him.? 

[Showing the bells.'\ 

See, he hath fetched me these from home. 
[ IVaving her hand.~\ 

Mengette ! 
Perrin ! — I did not knit the other mitten ! 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Sire — 

JEANNE 
[Turning quickly.^ 
May I go ? My vow to God is kept, 
And nothing now prevents — 

LA TREMOUILLE 

Your promise, Maid. 
Compiegne — 

JEANNE 

I had forgot ! 



1 46 JEANNE D 'ARC 

LA TREMOUILLE 
\To the Procession^ 

Go on. 

JEANNE 
[To the group with her father.'] 

Adieu ! 

I must go to serve my good friends at Compiegne. 

JACQUES 
Thy mother ! — waiteth for thee. 

JEANNE 
\Tossing to Jacques the steel gamitlet from her right hand.] 

Show her this, 
And tell her I would rather spin at home, 
But for a web begun God sendeth thread 
And I must spin for France. 

[The Procession begins to move; the crowd sways between 
Jean?ie and her father^ who stands^ with bowed head, 
holdi7ig the gauntlet^ 

MENGETTE 

[Lifted from her feet by Pierre, tears off her head-dress and 

waves it above the people'' s heads.] 

Jeannette ! 
[Jeanne, turning her horse and looking straight on^ holds 
in her left hand her banner ; in her right — close to her 
ear — the string of clinking bells, to the others inaudible 
through the cries of "Noel! " and the thunder of the 
cathedral chimes.] 

JEANNE 

The sheep ! 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 47 



ACT V 

Scene : Jeanne's Prison at Rouen. May 30, 

1431- 

A dim room, with o?tly one small, barred window {at back) 
very high up. Doors, right (down stage) and left {tip 
stage). Massive stone pillars sustain the ceiling. In- 
conspicuous in the obscurity of the right upper corner 
stands a narrow cage, with irons for the occupant's 
neck and hands. 

As the scene opens , a group of persons in black ecclesiastical 
gowns is seen passing slowly across the prison chamber, 
from the door of an inner room {right) to the outer 
door {left). Among the?n are Pierre Cauchon and 
Nicolas Loiseleur. They are followed by John Gris, 
Brother Martin Ladvenu, and the Captain of the 
English Guard. In the background loiter Three 
Soldiers of the Guard, coarse types of men-at-arms. 

CAUCHON 

What think you, Nicolas ? 

LOISELEUR 

Her spirit fails ; 
I fear she will not last. 

CAUCHON 

That will not do ! 
She cost too dear a penny at Compi^gne 
For us to let her now escape the fire 
And pass like any Christian soul. 



1 48 JEANNE D 'ARC 

LOISELEUR 

'Twere pity. 
CAUCHON 

And this long trial which hath lately closed 
To end in farce ! — Besides, the folk of Rouen, 
That weep around this prison on their knees, 
Will say we murdered her. Whereas, i' the fire, 
Not merely shall we brand her heretic 
And witch, but we shall tarnish with her shame 
The crown of Charles, which this said witch put on 
him. 

LOISELEUR 

Then, too, your Reverence' archbishopric 
So nearly earned ! 

CAUCHON 
Hush ; nothing of that now. 
We must make haste. — Captain, a word with you. 

\As Cauchon takes the Captain of the Guard aside, John 
Gris speaks to Brother Martin.^ 

ORIS 
I was her prisoner at Orleans once. 
And now her keeper ! Would to God again 
I were her prisoner, and she once more 
In that proud freedom. — When did she begin 
To doubt her Voices } 

BROTHER MARTIN 

After the great lapse. 
When she recanted all in the open square, . 
Seeing the executioner's black cart 



JEANNE D' ARC I49 

Awaiting her. Since then, though she hath now 

Resumed her man's garb which she then put off, 

And docilely affirms her faith, yet she 

Is shaken in her soul, for now no more 

She sees her visions, hears no more her Voices. 

GRIS 
To what doth she ascribe this ? 

BROTHER MARTIN 

I know not. 

A year of darkness and imprisonment. 
And slow, sharp probings of the Inquisition 
Have weighed on her bold spirit. This I know : 
That many an age your English hearts shall bleed 
To hear the story which doth end this hour. 

GRIS 
\D rawing closer to Brother Martin^ 
Where stays your Paris monk .-* 

BROTHER MARTIN 
\Secretively looking toward Cauchon.~\ 

The duke is still here ; 
Three days I have concealed him in my cell. 
But still have found no means to bring him to her. 

GRIS 
Means must be found. I'll call the guard away. 

CAUCHON 
Thou, Brother Martin, come with us ; let stole 
And Eucharist be brought for her last rites. 



150 JEANNE D' ARC 

[To the Cap tain. '\ 
You have your orders, sir. 

\To the I?iquisitors.'\ 

Come, gentle masters, 
This noon we'll lunch with long-earned appetites. 

\_Exeunt {left) Cauchon, Loiseteur, Brother Martin, and the 
Doctors of the Inquisition. At the door, John Gris 
stops and speaks to the Captain of the GuardJ\ 

GRIS 
The orders of my lord the Bishop you 
Will execute with gentleness. Remember 
That you are Englishmen and she a maid. 

\_Exit.'\ 

THE CAPTAIN 

[To the Guards.'] 
Remember, too, my lads, how this same " Maid " 
By damned arts hath sent ten thousand souls 
Of Enghshmen to hell. 

FIRST GUARD 

Comes now her turn. 

THE CAPTAIN 

Fetch here the prisoner and put on her 

The garb of heresy. 

[Exeunt guards into the inner room, whence they return 
immediately, dragging Jeanne, one of whose feet is tied 
to a heavy log. E?'o?n this they unchain her. She is 
dressed still as a man, in a worn, dull-coloured garb. In 
aspect she is very pale, and of a spiritual emaciation. 
From the cage in the corner, the Captain has brought a 



JEANNE D'ARC 1 5 1 

long white iu7iic and a mitre-shaped cap ^ which he hands 
to 07ie of the guards, who prepares to put them upon 
Jeanne.^ 

JEANNE 
Will it be now ? 

THE CAPTAIN 

Aye, and forever after. 

SECOND GUARD 

There be piled 
Kindlings in Rouen Square. After the Bishop 
Hath spoke his sermon, there shall be a bonfire. 

THIRD GUARD 

They say the Square is packed. 

FIRST GUARD 
\To Jeanne ^ lifting the tunic.'] 

Come ! 
JEANNE 

'Tis for me } 

What are these, sir } 

FIRST GUARD 

The wedding cap and gown 
That old Dame Inquisition gives her daughters 
When they go to the Devil. 

SECOND GUARD 

He'll make her a brave 
House-warming — 

[Saluting Jea7ine derisively.'] 
Hail to 's doxy ! 



152 JEAIVNE D 'ARC 

THIRD GUARD 

Hail her cap ! 

\Taking it from her head^ for Jeanne to see, he holds it aloft 
while the other guards, severally bowing and dojffing be- 
fore ity read the words which are blazoned on its sur- 
face.'] 

THE GUARDS 

Apostate ! — Heretic ! — Idolatress ! 

[Reenter Brother Martin, with candles and stole. He 
stands in the doorway ; behind him appears another 
cowled figure, which withdraws when the Captain 
speaks^ 

BROTHER MARTIN 

I bring the last rites for the prisoner. 

THE CAPTAIN 

Whom hast thou with thee there ? 

BROTHER MARTIN 

A monk from Paris. 
\Enter abruptly y in the doorway, John Gris.1 



Captain, your guard is wanted in the court I 



GRIS 

I in thfi roiirti 



THE CAPTAIN 

[To the guards.] 

Come ! — Jeanne, by order of my lord the Bishop, 

Thou hast four minutes wherein to confess 

And gear thy soul whither it goes. — Hear'st thou ? 

JEANNE 

I hear thee, godon,\ 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 5 3 

THE CAPTAIN 
\To Brother Martin?^ 
The executioner 
Is waiting in the court. When you shall hear 
His bell-cart tolling, come away. 

\Exeunt the Captai7i, John Gris, and the guards, the third 
guard handing the mitre-cap to Brother Martin, who 
sets it and the candles on the floor of the cell. During 
the time in zvhich the door remains open, sounds of dis- 
tant chanting come from without ?[ 

JEANNE 

What voices 
Are those ? 

BROTHER MARTIN 

Priests chanting for thy soul. — My child, 
I will return at once and bring thee comfort. 

\JExit {left)?[ 

JEANNE 
They are not priests : that is the Judge's Clerk 
Reading the questions in the Justice Hall ; 
Day after day they lead me down to answer. 
Do not you hear } Those are the accusations, 
And there are seventy. He's crying them 
Aloud in the open court. He will not cease ; 
And all the masters' gowns are turned to grey. — 
Cease ! I have heard all, my lords ! Pray, bid him 

cease. 
l^Frofn behind the blank wall which Jeanne^ clad in her 
white tunic, thus supplicates with outstretched arms, 
there rises, articulate, out of the far-heard chnnting nf 
the 77ionks, and becomes loud enough for clearness — a 
monotonous f droning voice.] 



1 54 JEANNE D 'ARC 

THE VOICE 

And first, according to Divine Law, as according 
to Canon and Civil Law, it is to you the Bishop, as 
Judge Ordinary, and to you the Deputy, as Inquisi- 
tor of the Faith, that it appertaineth to drive away, 
destroy, and cut out from the roots in your Diocese, 
and in all the kingdom of France, heresies, witch- 
crafts, superstitions ; to punish and amend all those 
who act against our Faith : to wit, sorcerers, diviners, 
invokers of demons, their abettors and accomplices. 
And your power as to this exists against all lay persons, 
whatever be their estate, sex, quality, and preeminence; 
in regard to all you are competent judges. 

What have you to say to this Article } 

JEANNE 

Pass on ! 

\The Voice resumes with the same intoning monotony. Before 
it is done speakings there softly reenters (left) Brother 
Martin, followed by D^Alengon. The latter is dressed 
in a robe and cowl similar to the monk''s, but these are 
but thrown loosely over his usual garb. Jeanne neither 
hears nor sees them.'\ 

THE VOICE OF THE CLERK 
But it is time to instruct you more fully, my lords 
and judges, on the offences, excesses, crimes, and mis- 
demeanours committed by the accused, Jeanne d' Arc, 
in many and diverse places. In her childhood she 
was not instructed in the beliefs and principles of our 
Faith ; but by certain old women she was initiated 
in the science of witchcraft, divination, superstitious 



JEANNE D' ARC 155 

doings, and magical arts — so much so that, in these 
interrogations before you, touching her visions and 
the apparitions of fairies, she hath confessed that even 
now she doth not know if these fairies were evil spirits 
or not. 

What have you to say to this Accusation ? 

JEANNE 

I have answered you before. As for the fairies, 
I know not what they are. But for my teaching 
I was brought up to say my Creed, and do 
Whatso a good child ought. 

D'ALENgON 

Whom speaks she to } 

BROTHER MARTIN 

Some phantom of her fever ; 
For pale hallucinations come to her. 
No more her sacred visions ; random voices — 
The memories of her late torture-trial — 
Not now her saints. Oft, as I told you, she 
Will call your name. 

D'ALENgON 

Oh, that she call it now ! 

THE Voice of the clerk 
Of Robert de Baudricourt Jeanne asked to have 
made for her a man's dress and armour appropriate. 
These garments and armour being furnished, Jeanne, 
rejecting and abandoning women's clothing, her hair 
cut around like a young coxcomb, took tunic, doublet. 



1 56 JEANNE D 'ARC 

surcoat, close-cut cap, buskins, spurs, sword, lance, 
and other arms in fashion of a man, affirming that in 
this she was executing the order of God as had been 
prescribed to her by God's messenger. 

\_ Jeanne makes toward the wall a gesture of pathetic affir- 
mation 7^ 

D'ALENgON 

Surely she hears some voice ! — Is she so ill ? 

THE VOICE OF THE CLERK 

What have you to say to this Accusation ? 

JEANNE 

Pass on ! It is so. 

D'ALENCON 

Jeanne ! What is so } 

BROTHER MARTIN 

She wanders. 
Speak to her ; but remember you yourself 
Are under doom — an escaped prisoner ; 
Speak not too loud. 

D'ALENgON 

Nay, let them find me. Death 
Comes equitably now with her ; and though 
I am powerless to save her, yet 'tis sweet 
Not to survive. 

BROTHER MARTIN 

Your will, then, is to be 
Discovered and to perish 1 

D'ALENCON 

Here. 



JEAN-NE D'ARC 157 

BROTHER MARTIN 

If I 

Consent, it is because she needs you : you, 

Who first instilled her doubts, must extirpate them. 

Farewell ; though she shall think you but a dream, 

Yet speak ! — I will confess her — at the flames. 

\_Exit^ 

D'ALENgON 

The flames ! — O Christ ! how dare I speak to her ? 

\_Leantng faintly against one of the stone pillars^ D''Alenqon 
struggles fo r self-possessio n . J 

THE VOICE OF THE CLERK 
\_Gradually sounding more remote^ 

Obstinate in her presumption, Jeanne hath said, 
proclaimed, and published that she recognized and 
discerned the voices of Archangels, Angels, and 
Saints ; and she hath affirmed that she knoweth how 
to distinguish their voices as of such ; she hath not 
feared to proclaim that St. Michael, Archangel of 
God, did himself come to her ; also that by revelation 
of Saints the crown of Charles the King was shown 
to him through her. All these are lies imagined by 
Jeanne at the instigation of the Devil, or suggested 
by demons in deceitful apparitions, to make sport of 
her curiosity — she who would search secrets beyond 
her capacity and condition. 

What have you to say to this Accusation } 

JEANNE 

What should I say, my lords } — Yes, they were lies ! 



1 5 8 JEANNE D 'ARC 

My Voices lied to me, my friendly visions, 

That brought to me all holy signs of heaven, 

They lied — they lied ! for look, my masters : now — 

Now I am brought before you in this hall. 

And you command me to reveal you proofs 

That what I saw was holy ; now I call 

On those bright saints to be my witnesses — 

They come not, answer not ! Ah, truly ye 

Condemn me ; I was tempted : demons were they, 

And have deserted me, deluded me. 

D'ALENgON 

Do not believe them, Jeanne ! 

JEANNE 

You hear him, judges. 
Even so he spake at Orleans, and I chid him. 
My duke forewarned me well, yet I believed. 

D'ALENgON 

Child, look on me. The latest moment, Jeanne, 
Yet I am here : I too was prisoner. 
Knew naught of this ; but when I heard, escaped. 
And now I am come to witness to the truth. 

JEANNE 

My lords, you hear ! Even he is come, a witness. 
Before you. 

D'ALENgON 

Not a witness before them, — 
Your dread, grey judges, — but before those saints 
And thy dear soul to attest their faith in you 
And yours in them. 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 59 

JEANNE 

How pale thou art, my friend. 
You must not sorrow now to speak against me. 
You bade me doubt those visions, yet I kept 
My faith ; the blame was mine. Well I remember 
You warned me then they were but " vanities 
And whisperings of the air." 

D'ALENgON 

I knew not then — 

JEANNE 

How France should sell me to the English ! No ! 
Pass on ; 'tis over. — Will you address the court ? 

D'ALENgON 

Here is no court nor trial-chamber, Jeanne. 
Feel here — D'Alen^on's hand ; this is your prison. 
Where in a little moment Death shall enter 
And lead us both away. I cannot bar 
His coming, child, but I can make it happy 
^'<Jf this swift prayer can move your soul to hear. 

JEANNE 

To me you pray ? To me .'' — They used to pray 
To me at Rheims, and all the chimes were ringing. 

\In the distance a harsh tolling resounds^ and ceases. '\ 
Hark ! they have begun again. 

D'ALENgON 

That knelling bids 
Me speak, nor hesitate. Jeanne, what I say 
Is heaven and hell and life and death : I love you, 
How — you shall know and understand. At first 



y 



^" 



1 60 JEANNE D 'ARC 

I, now your anchorite, burned high for you 

With man's desire. Ere yet you came to France, 

I caught afar the pastoral breath of you, 

And sudden, when you'd come, you rose for me 

Amidst our army's spears — a martial Ruth, 

Bright from those rustled battle-sheaves of men, 

And drew me, soul-bound. — ' I will love this child,' 

I vowed, * and win her love, for 'tis in sooth 

A simple child, whose quick, religious heart 

And pied imagination fill for her 

The air with painted angels, speaking saints 

And bell-toned voices. Who that lives would not 

Follow her eyes to Orleans and to Rheims .'*' 

And so, a pagan in your holy war, 

I followed you. At last we camped by Troyes. 

There in the moon, after the weary day. 

While pale in armour you lay slumbering, 

I kept my vigil. Suddenly, your lips 

Murmured " D'Alen^on." Ah ! I leapt to kiss 

Your sleeping hand — Jeanne ! Jeanne ! it rose 

between us 
And smote me back I 

JEANNE 

My hand } 

D'ALENgON 

No, his, 

JEANNE 

What smote thee } 

D'ALENgON 

The mystery of you, the holiness. 



JEANNE D 'ARC 1 6 1 

For these — a blazing, keen, and two-edged sword — 

That silent angel, radiant in wrath, 

Did smite me with ; and lo ! with blinded eyes 

I saw thee — what thou art : the Maid of God. 

Angel, or saint, or guardian wraith — that blow 

^,Made me to pray, to tremble, and believe. 

1 I, who did boast to riddle a child's heart, 
Was humbled and was glad. 

\The kfielling resounds again. ^ 

JEANNE 
\^Zis^eni7ig.'] 

Is it the cart ? 
I am afraid. Art thou to go with me ? 

D'ALENgON 
\^Genffy.'] 

Of course ; and all your visions wait for you 
To call them. Child, let not my sceptic love 
Lead your weak spirit to the world's dark sill 
Thus stricken — blinded, groping for its saints 
Believe! you who have made me to believe. 

JEANNE 

Why have they then forsook me — those sweet saints 
That used to come — at least, methought they came. 
Why do I not behold them any more } 

D'ALENgON 
Because — remember what you told the King! 
You must believe before you may behold ! 
But I — I wronged your faith. Those noxious seeds 
Of doubt I sowed in freedom — here, in darkness, 

M 



1 62 JEANNE D 'ARC 

Prison, and pain, your black Inquisitors 

Have fostered for their ends. They are your demons, 

That have deluded you with sophistries ; 

And if they ask for proof, say to them this : 

Orleans is not a lie ; the gates of Troyes 

Are not delusions ; no ! Rheims stands in stone ; 

France — France is saved, and Charles the King is 

crowned ! 
Who hath done this but God and Jeanne, His Maid ? 

JEANNE 

Art thou a dream comest to tell me this ? 
Or art my knight — my bonny duke ? 

D'ALENgON 

Madonna ! 
JEANNE 

It doth not matter ! — Though a thousand miles. 

And clouds and towers and darkness are between us. 

Still are you with me, absent, like a star. 

Thou only knewest me, thou only knowest, 

Save God, and thou hast brought me back to Him. 

Look down, St. Michael ! Once again I wear 

Thine armour : Lord, I dread no more the flames. 

Lean down, St. Catherine, St. Margaret ! 

See, now I am your true girl — take my soul 

And tell me you forgive, for I believe ; 

Tell me you are true, and all my sin a dream ! 

\_Outside as the slow, harsh knelling resounds close by, high iii 
the dim, barred window appear, in splendour, the faces 
(and, in part, the fornis^ of St. Michael, St. Catherine, 
and St. Margaret, luho look down upon Jeanne?^ 



JEANNE D 'ARC 163 

THE FEMALE SAINTS 
\_Si7nulta71eous with the bell^ 
Thy pain — it is a dream. 

JEANNE 
\_With a cfj of pas5io7iaie joy^ 

My duke — they hear ! 
Behold they are come again ! I see their faces, 
I hear their voices ! 

D'ALENgON 

\_Kneeiing beside her with bowed head, kissing the edge of her 

white j'obe, speaks to himself^ 

Would to God might I ! 

[7%<f door (left) is thrown open. In the passageway are 
heard heavy app7'oachi7ig footsteps a7id a 77iurtnur as of 
many people. Jeanne^ standings gazes tip at the grated 
wifidow — her face lit with a lost rapture. ~\ 

THE VOICE OF BROTHER MARTIN 
\Fro77i outside^ 
The executioner. 

ST. MICHAEL 
\His voice sounding with the approaching bell.^ 
Be not afraid. 

\_Away on the left, voices of tnen are heard chanting: 
" Kyrie eleison ! Chris te eleison ! "] 

FINIS 



ADDENDA 

In Act I, the refrain of the opening song is dialectical. 
In Act III, the letter dictated by Jeanne to the English 
is authentic ; in the same act, the hymn, Veniy Creator 
Spiritus, known as the Hymn of Charlemagne, was 
historically sung by Jeanne and the French before 
battle. In Act V, the words spoken by the Voice of 
the Clerk are transcribed directly from the translation 
of the Seventy Articles, prepared by the Promoter 
d'Estivet, which formed the Accusation of Jeanne's 
Trial in Ordinary — published in the Appendix of the 
volume of Original Documents on Jeanne d' Arc, 
edited by T. Douglas Murray, New York, McClure, 
Phillips, & Co., 1902. 

The author's sincere acknowledgments are due to 
Mrs. Patrick Campbell for her friendly interest in hav- 
ing specifically directed his attention to the above 
illuminating book, which has constituted the chief in- 
forming source, and a large inspiration, to his work. 

The music of the play — incidental, as w^eU as 
lyrical — has been composed by Mr. F. S. Converse, 
and may be had in published form. 

The cover design and the scene illustrations of the 
present volume were dravm by Mr. Barry Faulkner. 

The acting rights of the play, in America and 
England, are ow^ned by Mr. E. H. Sothern and Miss 
Julia Marlowe. 

Percy Mackaye. 
Cornish, N.H. September, 1906. 



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